Time for a shelter-first policy in Los Angeles
As Angelenos wait in earnest for Judge David O. Carter to possibly impose a consent decree on the city and county of Los Angeles, the number of people living on the streets, parks and public rights-of-way is at an all-time high and an alarming amount of precious people made in the image of God will continue to die.
Five precious people living on the streets die in Los Angeles County per day; 270 in January and February of this year alone, up a shocking 49 percent from last year.
Sadly, due to social distancing due to COVID-19, closure of Community Rec Centers, scaling down of Project Roomkey, fewer shelter beds exist today than last year at a time when the number of individuals and families experiencing homeless has skyrocketed. These dispiriting figures exist in spite of billions of taxpayer dollars being spent on the issue of homelessness.
We’re in this desperate situation because the City and County of Los Angeles have failed by any objective measurement to meaningfully address homelessness. This situation is a direct reflection of poor decision-making, failed policies and the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars, perhaps more, spent on yet-tobe-developed permanent housing units. We were promised 10,000 units during the next decade. To date, only 489 units have been developed after four years.
It’s difficult to see how a rational person could have done a worse job on any issue even if they had planned to do so.
For an example, look no further than those well-publicized units that cost more than $530,000 each and have fancy granite counter tops. This ridiculous per unit price — almost the cost of a median home in the county — reflect inflexible and uncompromising government policies and the lobbying strength of permanent-supportive housing with harm reduction only advocates and activists.
Both the city and county have focused their attention away from inexpensive temporary shelter and recovery options.
The growing number of people living and unfortunately dying on our streets, parks and sidewalks is a daily example of this failure.
The rising death rate, is unfortunately the most accurate unfortunate barometer of our collective failure.
We know from first-hand experience that if immediate shelter options are available, many people devastated by homelessness will take prompt action and occupy of those beds.
City and county government officials have bent to the activists’ belief that everyone deserves an expensive condo. Not only is that ideological belief sheer myth, but it’s also prohibitively expensive and impossible to achieve — at least within the next century.
We need immediate, affordable, innovative and simple places for people devastated by homelessness to go temporarily to get them off the streets. In a post-COVID-19 world, these solutions include Tiny Homes, 3-D printed concrete homes,
Sprung structures, well-run organized tent cities (not like the helter-skelter encampment at Echo Park) where people devastated by homelessness can be triaged and provided the services they need to rebuild their lives.
The city of Los Angeles needs to radically alter its failed policies and fund the only viable solution available: Build temporary housing for those without a roof of any kind over their heads at varying locations throughout the region and reduce or reorganize government bureaucracies determined to impede progress.
Not only are shelters and other options less-expensive than permanent supportive housing, but they also give County and other non-profit entities the ability to provide life transforming support services to these individuals and their families.
Pursuing a well-run, shelter-first, recovery oriented policy has an added benefit. It will lower tensions in neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles. People living on the street or in tents face a desperate situation. They’re crying out for help. So, too, are neighbors and community businesses who cannot use parks or walk on sidewalks due to health and safety concerns.
Ultimately, we need a FEMA-like response to create temporary housing options for people to go — solutions that allow us to build shelter beds at $10,000 to $20,000 each rather than $500,000 to $700,000 now.
If not, people will continue dying on our streets and more neighborhoods will be taken over because there’s nowhere for a growing homeless population to go.
It shouldn’t take a federal judge to impose a solution. Everyone knows the status quo has failed. Our elected representatives must change course immediately. Bold, decisive action is required, now.