Shelter Partnership

Over the past month, a number of reports have been released documenting the extent of poverty in the nation.  The statistics from the 2010 U.S. Census are alarming.

• The poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1%, with 46.2 million people living below the poverty line, or $22,113 for a family of four.  These figures represent the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate, and the largest number of impoverished people since the Census began tracking poverty estimates 52 years ago.[1]
• Real median household income in 2010 was $49,445, down 2.3% from 2009.[2]
• Over 30% of female-headed households lived in poverty in 2010, another increase from the previous year.[3]

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written by Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

On Wednesday, I had the privilege of participating in the California State Assembly Select Committee on Homelessness’ Los Angeles hearing. Eight legislative leaders were present, including Speaker John Perez (Los Angeles). Speakers from Los Angeles were asked by Chairperson Toni Atkins (San Diego) to present three proposals that the State could implement—with the proviso that these proposals should not cost the State any money. Based on these hearings and other input she receives, Assemblywoman Atkins’ intent is to develop a legislative packet on homelessness.

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By Steve Renahan, Senior Policy Advisor

The proposed Section 8 Savings Act (SESA) contains many worthy proposals.  It also includes a change that would result in many extremely low-income households remaining homeless or at-risk of homelessness for longer periods of time.

Currently, 75 percent of admissions to the Section 8 tenant-based Voucher program and 40 percent of admissions to project-based Section 8 and public housing units must be households with incomes at or below 30% of Area Median Income (AMI) in the local area.  SESA would broaden these targets to include households with incomes at or below 30% of AMI or the federal poverty level, whichever is higher.

Backers of this change claim that housing authorities would have greater flexibility to target working-poor families and that the change would generate savings for the federal budget.

Of course, for every higher-income household admitted under a policy of “flexibility,” a lower-income household in greater need would wait longer.  And naturally such a policy would save money; higher income households require less subsidy.  But the purpose of the Section 8 and public housing programs is not to save money by leasing to higher-income households, rather it is to serve the poorest of the poor.

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Written by Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director, and Dhakshike Wickrema, Senior Project Manager

Earlier this year, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) and the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (HACoLA) convened the Barriers to Access Working Group to review their respective admissions policies and procedures for their Section 8 Special Programs, including the Section 8 Homeless Assistance Program and the Project-Based Voucher Program.  Shelter Partnership was actively involved in the Working Group, as were other community stakeholders.  To inform the Working Group’s discussions, Shelter Partnership surveyed homeless clients in emergency shelters (with the help of New Image Shelter) and sober living homes (with the help of A New Way of Life Reentry Project).  Similarly, Skid Row Housing Trust reviewed their tenant applications for permanent supportive housing (PSH).

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written by Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

There is widespread agreement among experts that the way the federal government measures poverty is inadequate and outdated. The current formula is premised on the average family’s food cost and has been in place for more than four decades.

One of the more compelling attempts to develop a new measurement has been undertaken by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development. Begun in 2008, The Elder Economic Security Standard Index is a county-specific measure of the minimum income necessary to cover all of a senior’s basic expenses using reliable government statistics and includes housing, food, health care and transportation. Because housing costs vary so greatly by region and also by whether an individual is a renter or a homeowner, the specificity is illuminating.

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written by Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

Last week, the Los Angeles Times featured a 4-part series of articles on Project 50.  The articles profiled a few residents who had been placed in Skid Row Housing Trust permanent supportive housing units.  These residents had been selected for permanent supportive housing because the County-sponsored Project 50 deemed them most likely to die on the streets on Skid Row, a neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles.

Despite its length, the articles failed to provide context about homelessness in Los Angeles County or the roles played by our local government, including individual cities and the County, to make it possible to end homelessness.  We are attempting to address this lack of context through a series of blog posts.  This blog post will describe the relationship between the County of Los Angeles and the various cities that lie within the massive region that make up the County.

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written by Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

Many people have asked us what we at Shelter Partnership think about Christopher Goffard’s four-part story on Project 50 that appeared last week in the LA Times.  Given the complexity of homelessness and its solutions, it’s not surprising that Goffard’s series raised many questions.

We think Steve Lopez’s reasoned analysis in Sunday’s LA Times summarizes the principle lessons of Project 50.  Here’s a link:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0808-lopezcolumn-20100808,0,5137075.story

written by Dhakshike Wickrema, Senior Project Manager

Last week, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) published the nation’s first Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.  Click here to read the Plan.

The Plan comes on the heels of an unprecedented investment of $1.5 billion nationwide in Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing funds, increased investments in homeless assistance in federal budget requests, the reauthorization of homeless assistance (McKinney-Vento) funding through the HEARTH Act of 2009 and a push to coordinate funding across federal agencies providing services and housing for the homeless.

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written by Dhakshike Wickrema, Project Manager

Last week, 777 participants, representing 47 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and three Canadian provinces, attended the 2010 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference in San Francisco.  Barbara Poppe, Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, and Jim O’Connell, President of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, were the Keynote Speakers.  (The speeches are available online at http://www.nhchc.org/2010conference/webcastinfo.html and photos can be found on Shelter Partnership’s Facebook page.)

The conference focused on innovative approaches and offered over 70 different workshops on a variety of policies, programs, research, and advocacy efforts related to health care for the homeless.  Following are summaries of two workshops that stood out.

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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most recent budget calls for major funding cuts to the safety net for families, and in some cases the total elimination of programs.  Among the programs proposed for elimination is the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) Program, which provides cash assistance to extremely low-income families with children, while helping parents find jobs and overcome barriers to employment.  More than 400,000 individuals would be affected in Los Angeles County alone, and over 75% of them are children.

Families who receive CalWORKs are barely able to secure and retain housing, as the maximum grant for a family of three in Los Angeles County is $694.  This grant has not risen with inflation and is at the same level as in 1990.  The grant for more than half of all of CalWORKs families is actually $561 as the adult member of the household is excluded from aid due to sanctions or eligibility issues.

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