L.A. is getting a government-run tent city. All it took was 40 years and a pandemic
4 years, 8 months ago

L.A. is getting a government-run tent city. All it took was 40 years and a pandemic

LA Times  

VA community outreach worker Michelle O’Neal, center, helps homeless veterans Larry McNearney, left, and Timothy Cornejo, right, set up Cornejo’s tent in a VA parking lot in Los Angeles. “It’s not a bad idea to try it as an emergency measure,” said Mike Neely, a former commissioner with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Homeless Army veteran Timothy Cornejo brings his belongings into his tent as he sets up camp in a VA parking lot in Los Angeles Elected leaders in Los Angeles have responded to the pandemic’s threat to the street population by converting recreation centers into shelters. “We have to do this right, right now,” he said, “before this rips through the tents.” Steve Ruh, chief VA spokesman, walks inside a parking lot on the grounds of the VA West Los Angeles campus that is being opened up to camping by homeless veterans.

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History of this topic

Column: Is L.A. actually solving homelessness? The answer will start with perception, not reality
1 year, 1 month ago

Column: Is L.A. actually solving homelessness? The answer will start with perception, not reality

LA Times  

Mayor Karen Bass, accompanied by HUD official Richard J. Monocchio, left, and City Councilmembers Nithya Raman, far left, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Bob Blumenfield, speak to reporters in Hollywood on Wednesday. “I do really worry that it’s become normalized in public discourse to speak about people experiencing homelessness as, like, a problem for those who are not homeless — as opposed …

Number of homeless residents in Los Angeles County jumps by 9% in annual count
1 year, 6 months ago

Number of homeless residents in Los Angeles County jumps by 9% in annual count

Associated Press  

The number of homeless residents counted in Los Angeles County has spiked again, increasing by 9% since last year in the latest marker of how deep the crisis is of people sleeping in cars, encampments or shelters in California. Results released Thursday from a federally required tally conducted in January found 75,518 people were homeless on any given night across …

Number of homeless residents in Los Angeles County jumps by 9% in annual count
1 year, 6 months ago

Number of homeless residents in Los Angeles County jumps by 9% in annual count

The Independent  

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The number of homeless residents counted in Los …

Editorial: Is L.A.’s anti-camping law getting homeless people off sidewalks and into housing? Let’s find out
1 year, 10 months ago

Editorial: Is L.A.’s anti-camping law getting homeless people off sidewalks and into housing? Let’s find out

LA Times  

Nearly two years ago, the Los Angeles City Council passed a controversial ordinance that banned camping by homeless people near schools, day-care centers and parks as well as any other locations that council members wanted to decree off-limits. In tandem with the anti-camping law, the City Council adopted a street engagement strategy whereby people would be told to leave an …

L.A. to keep downtown hotel open as homeless housing for another year
1 year, 11 months ago

L.A. to keep downtown hotel open as homeless housing for another year

LA Times  

Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park, left, and Mayor Karen Bass attend a reception Friday celebrating efforts to move dozens of homeless people in Venice into temporary housing. The L.A. Grand Hotel, which served as temporary housing for a portion of the city’s homeless population since the outbreak of COVID-19, will continue operating until at least Jan. 31, 2024, said …

Editorial: The VA must do better to house homeless veterans on its West L.A. campus
2 years, 1 month ago

Editorial: The VA must do better to house homeless veterans on its West L.A. campus

LA Times  

A fire official walks past some of the tiny home shelters that were damaged or destroyed in a fire on the Veterans Affairs campus in West Los Angeles on Sept. 9. The Department of Veterans Affairs has failed miserably in its promise to house homeless veterans on the sprawling grounds of its West L.A. campus. Since the 2015 settlement of …

Homeless advocates urge L.A. leaders to buy downtown hotel and turn it into housing
2 years, 3 months ago

Homeless advocates urge L.A. leaders to buy downtown hotel and turn it into housing

LA Times  

Project Roomkey recipient Sonja Verdugo, a longtime resident at the L.A. Grand Hotel, speaks at a rally outside the hotel in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. Homeless advocates on Friday called on city leaders to purchase the L.A. Grand Hotel, which has served as emergency shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic, to convert into permanent housing. Project Roomkey recipient Susan Hartnett, …

Many homeless people resist group shelters even as L.A. mayoral candidates push to build more
2 years, 8 months ago

Many homeless people resist group shelters even as L.A. mayoral candidates push to build more

LA Times  

Loryn Montag, a homeless engagement team member with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, takes Michael Watson to a tiny-house village as a sanitation crew prepares to remove a homeless encampment from the sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles on April 5. The Los Angeles mayoral primary has seen candidates throwing big numbers around concerning how much shelter they’d …

L.A.'s anti-camping law is a patchwork of compliance
2 years, 8 months ago

L.A.'s anti-camping law is a patchwork of compliance

LA Times  

The posted deadline for every tent and shanty to be gone arrived on a Monday. Yet by noon, life continued at its desultory pace as people began to stir in the dozen structures pressed against the guardrail over the 101 Freeway in downtown L.A. “Tomorrow,” said Harvey Hernandez, 58, a longtime denizen of downtown streets who displayed his awareness of …

Op-Ed: Volunteering with L.A.’s homeless can mean becoming a de facto caseworker
3 years ago

Op-Ed: Volunteering with L.A.’s homeless can mean becoming a de facto caseworker

LA Times  

I met J. in 2019, the first time I did homeless outreach. But J. is not capable of navigating the social service system on her own, and I have found myself, a private citizen without formal training or authority, acting as, effectively, an unpaid service provider. Statewide, things are equally bleak — at the current rate of construction it will …

Photos: A homeless encampment is cleared in front of the West L.A. VA campus
3 years, 2 months ago

Photos: A homeless encampment is cleared in front of the West L.A. VA campus

LA Times  

With the support of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies, a variety of organizations helped homeless veterans pack up to leave their encampment and move onto the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus located behind a fence of their San Vicente Boulevard campus Monday morning. A variety of organizations helped homeless veterans pack up to leave their encampment and move onto …

L.A. county clears homeless encampment outside VA campus; vets offered shelter inside
3 years, 2 months ago

L.A. county clears homeless encampment outside VA campus; vets offered shelter inside

LA Times  

A bulldozer roared outside GemBob Brookhyser’s tent Monday morning as he yanked on an extension cord caught in a tangle of his belongings. Robert Reynolds, center, a veteran advocate with Amvets, walks with Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva on Monday as they tour the Veterans Row encampment along San Vicente Boulevard. “We’re trying to understand that sometimes folks have …

Homeless veterans prepare for move onto VA grounds in West Los Angeles
3 years, 2 months ago

Homeless veterans prepare for move onto VA grounds in West Los Angeles

LA Times  

Two days before the impending move and Lavon Johnson had yet to pack. The last census of homeless people in Los Angeles County found roughly 3,900 homeless veterans among the county’s total of 66,000 people without housing. “It’s like I was sent here,” Johnson said, as he looked at the 20 remaining tents along the sidewalk. “I love this country.” …

VA says it will house homeless veterans who are camped around its West L.A. campus
3 years, 2 months ago

VA says it will house homeless veterans who are camped around its West L.A. campus

LA Times  

A homeless encampment known as Veterans Row outside the Veterans Affairs campus on San Vicente Boulevard in West Los Angeles. The Department of Veterans Affairs aims to place more than 500 unhoused veterans living in Los Angeles, including 40 from the high-profile Veterans Row encampment in Brentwood, into housing by the end of the year. The last census of homeless …

Tracking the L.A. homeless coronavirus protection effort
3 years, 4 months ago

Tracking the L.A. homeless coronavirus protection effort

LA Times  

The Times is tracking the latest data from the operation, which is known as Project Roomkey. As an initial surge of leases with hotel owners tapered off, it quickly became clear the program would fall well short of its goal and make no more than a small dent in the roughly 48,000 people estimated to be living on the county’s …

L.A. wanted the Venice homeless shelter open at full capacity. Now it has a COVID outbreak
3 years, 4 months ago

L.A. wanted the Venice homeless shelter open at full capacity. Now it has a COVID outbreak

LA Times  

At a city-funded homeless shelter in Venice, 37 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent weeks — the largest current outbreak in a homeless facility in Los Angeles. “There was a strong recommendation from the city that we ‘recompress,’” said Jennifer Hark-Dietz, deputy chief executive officer and executive director of PATH, a statewide homeless housing and services agency, …

L.A.'s new homeless encampment law: Humane or cruel?
3 years, 5 months ago

L.A.'s new homeless encampment law: Humane or cruel?

LA Times  

Workers with Los Angeles County Beaches and Harbors watch as homeless people break down their encampments on the beach in Venice on June 30. A sweeping ordinance outlawing camping around parks, libraries and other facilities was approved last week by the Los Angeles City Council. The ordinance marks the city’s latest attempt to address homeless camping at a time when …

L.A.’s new plan to restrict homeless camping: What you need to know
3 years, 6 months ago

L.A.’s new plan to restrict homeless camping: What you need to know

LA Times  

A homeless encampment encroaches on the sidewalk at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Alvarado Street in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. The main points The ordinance would: Allow the City Council to restrict sleeping, lying and storing possessions near a variety of public facilities, including freeways and homeless shelters Prohibit tents and encampments from blocking sidewalks in ways that …

Editorial: COVID is surging among homeless people. L.A. needs to do something about it.
4 years ago

Editorial: COVID is surging among homeless people. L.A. needs to do something about it.

LA Times  

Los Angeles Police Sgt. For months during the pandemic, homeless people in Los Angeles seemed less susceptible to contracting COVID-19 — a combination of being spurned by others and living by themselves in tents on sidewalks. It also helped that the city and county provided up to 4,000 motel and hotel beds to particularly vulnerable homeless people through a program …

Why didn’t these L.A. hotels house homeless people? A new report offers some answers
4 years, 3 months ago

Why didn’t these L.A. hotels house homeless people? A new report offers some answers

LA Times  

Two hotels at L.A. Live, the downtown entertainment complex, did not take part in Project Roomkey. The report, prepared by the city’s chief legislative analyst and based on information provided by negotiators for Los Angeles County and Mayor Eric Garcetti, sheds light on some of the challenges encountered by government officials as they tried to secure rooms for Project Roomkey, …

Have L.A.’s homeless people dodged a COVID-19 catastrophe?
4 years, 4 months ago

Have L.A.’s homeless people dodged a COVID-19 catastrophe?

LA Times  

When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, advocates predicted that a “time bomb” was about to go off in the homeless community. But most of those infected had no symptoms: In Boston, where every shelter resident was tested, the asymptomatic rate was 70% to 90%, said Dr. James O’Connell, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and president of Boston Health Care for …

Judge issues order for Los Angeles to move homeless living near freeways, citing health concerns
4 years, 7 months ago

Judge issues order for Los Angeles to move homeless living near freeways, citing health concerns

LA Times  

A homeless encampment beneath the 405 Freeway on Venice Boulevard. Those who live in the camp call it “Westside skid row.” Thousands of homeless people living near freeways in Los Angeles County are in line to receive alternative shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic after a federal court judge ordered local authorities to find them housing. The preliminary injunction, issued Friday …

L.A. races to save 15,000 homeless people from coronavirus — one hotel room at a time
4 years, 8 months ago

L.A. races to save 15,000 homeless people from coronavirus — one hotel room at a time

LA Times  

Omar Spry of the Los Angeles Housing Community Investment Department pushes a cart of bags into a West L.A. hotel that has been turned into housing for homeless people during the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re in a race to save lives,” said Sarah Dusseault, chairwoman of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s oversight commission. “Our thought is that every person who …

Los Angeles medical teams to help protect homeless people from coronavirus
4 years, 8 months ago

Los Angeles medical teams to help protect homeless people from coronavirus

CNN  

CNN — Los Angeles is sending medical street teams to help protect homeless people during the coronavirus pandemic that’s killed tens of thousands nationwide, city officials said. Under the effort that starts Monday, deployed medical teams will focus on people living on the streets and provide them with rapid-results coronavirus tests, regular health and welfare screenings, counseling and transportation to …

Editorial: What every homeless person needs in this pandemic: a room of their own
4 years, 9 months ago

Editorial: What every homeless person needs in this pandemic: a room of their own

LA Times  

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, you can’t follow the order to stay at home if you have no home. Even a group setting like a shelter — equipped with more hygienic facilities and with service providers watching for signs of illness — is healthier than a sidewalk, according to L.A. County public health officials. They have sought deals with hundreds …

Why a fight over homeless people could determine how much coronavirus hurts California
4 years, 9 months ago

Why a fight over homeless people could determine how much coronavirus hurts California

LA Times  

Cots are set up six feet apart at Westwood Recreation Center last week to shelter homeless people amid the coronavirus pandemic. “That is optimum from a public health perspective.” Meanwhile, Los Angeles County has compiled a list of 5,000 motel and hotel rooms that could be rented for homeless people who are at high risk for COVID-19, said Phil Ansell, …

L.A. to add 6,000 shelter beds for homeless Angelenos in hopes of slowing virus’ spread
4 years, 9 months ago

L.A. to add 6,000 shelter beds for homeless Angelenos in hopes of slowing virus’ spread

LA Times  

Los Angeles will convert 42 of its recreation centers into temporary shelters for homeless residents, providing 6,000 new beds in an effort aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday. The city is looking in the initiative’s first phase to open 1,600 shelter beds at 13 recreation centers by Monday, with beds provided by …

To combat virus, L.A. will let homeless encampments stay up throughout the day
4 years, 9 months ago

To combat virus, L.A. will let homeless encampments stay up throughout the day

LA Times  

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to temporarily stop enforcing a law requiring tents to come down during daytime hours, saying the change is needed to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. Councilmen Mike Bonin, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Gil Cedillo said the city must “urgently reevaluate” its policies for dealing with homeless encampments, given the virus threat. Council …

L.A. could have 30 new homeless shelters, but the county is refusing to pay for them
5 years, 1 month ago

L.A. could have 30 new homeless shelters, but the county is refusing to pay for them

LA Times  

It took months to get off the ground, but Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s plan to build a homeless shelter in every City Council district has taken off. Those shelters and programs would have to be scaled back, however, without Measure H funds from the county, an official in the city administrative office said. The county staff report also pointed …

L.A. to Trump team’s tour of homeless camps: ‘We’re on it. Show us the money’
5 years, 3 months ago

L.A. to Trump team’s tour of homeless camps: ‘We’re on it. Show us the money’

LA Times  

A large “membrane tent” at Union Rescue Mission will be used as a shelter for homeless people in Los Angeles. “A state of emergency would be far more meaningful than wiping out homeless encampments,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, co-chair of Gov. “It’s unclear what Trump is planning to do, and I don’t know if it’s clear to …

L.A. is swamped with 311 complaints over homeless camps. But are the cleanups pointless?
5 years, 7 months ago

L.A. is swamped with 311 complaints over homeless camps. But are the cleanups pointless?

LA Times  

Austin Yi said he couldn’t take it anymore. City Councilman Mike Bonin, whose coastal district includes the homeless hot spot of Venice, recently declared that “it is nearly impossible to find anyone who is satisfied with the result.” City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation refuse collection truck operator Jake Nademlynsky, removes a sofa at 41st Place and Alameda Street. …

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