Shelter Partnership

Written by Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

Mitchell H. Katz, MD, was recently appointed director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS), and has hit the ground running with an initiative to address the health and housing needs of homeless individuals who inappropriately use health care services, referred as “frequent users.”  In collaboration with the City of Los Angeles, the DHS Supportive Housing Projects will provide scattered-site housing and integrated health and social services for 56 individuals in South Los Angeles.

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Written by Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

Annually, the federal government requires that all housing authorities review their Section 8 Administrative Plans, a public process, which provides community organizations the opportunity to advocate for changes.  For several years, Shelter Partnership has urged the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (HACoLA) to increase their set-aside for the homeless and reduce barriers that homeless households face in accessing Section 8, especially those who experience chronic homelessness.

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By Steve Renahan, Senior Policy Advisor

In a well-thought-out Notice in the March 23, 2012 Federal Register, HUD has improved the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) Program by removing regulatory barriers to using Section 8 Vouchers to re-house homeless veterans. The VASH Program houses homeless veterans by providing case management services and Section 8 rent subsidies so veterans can afford rental units in the community.

If removing regulatory barriers to using Section 8 Vouchers to re-house homeless veterans is a good idea (and it is), shouldn’t HUD extend that approach to all homeless people in need of Section 8 rental assistance? And as HUD recognizes in the Notice that the flexibility it grants the misnamed “Moving-to-Work” housing authorities would undermine the VASH program’s promise to re-house homeless veterans, couldn’t HUD recognize that granting Moving-to-Work status may not be in the best interests of other homeless people living in those housing authorities’ jurisdictions?

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We were intrigued by a recent memo to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors that reported on testimony to the State Assembly by Phil Ansell, Acting Chief Deputy, Department of Public Social Services, on the County’s CalWORKs Program, so we asked Phil for a copy of his presentation on the increased rate of homelessness that has occurred among CalWORKs families as a result of State program cuts.

In Los Angeles County, following each change to the CalWORKs program, there was an increase in the number of families experiencing homelessness. In fact, the number of homeless families has more than doubled­—from 5,487 in July 2006 to 11,520 in December 2011.  In comparison, the overall County CalWORKs caseload increased by 17%.

The Governor’s current proposal would reduce CalWORKs funding by more then $946 million statewide by enacting complex changes that include:  restructuring the program into two components; retroactive eligibility determinations; time-clock stopper and sanction changes; and implementing a 27% reduction to child-only grants.

Given the data from 2006-2011, if enacted, these changes to CalWORKs could very well result in even more families falling into homelessness.

By Steven Renahan, Senior Policy Advisor

In the past two years, our community has made significant progress in addressing the needs of homeless veterans, however, much remains to be done. Following U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki’s 2009 commitment to end homelessness among veterans, the number of homeless veterans nationwide has decreased from 75,609 homeless veterans on a single night in 2009 to 67,495 veterans who were homeless nationally in HUD’s January 2011 homeless census. This is largely due to federal government funding of 37,190 permanent housing vouchers nationally over the past four years (2,375 of those in Los Angeles County), with another 10,000 to soon be released nationally.

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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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