Shelter Partnership

By Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

In 2009, when President Obama and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Erick K. Shinseki proclaimed that we as a nation would end Veteran’s homelessness by 2015, my reaction was one of skepticism.  In the 30 years that I have worked to solve homelessness, I had never seen a sustained, appropriately targeted, and adequate federal funding commitment to end homelessness.

But now I have become a believer.  According to the most recent national estimates, on any given night, 62,619 men and women veterans were homeless in 2012, compared to the 75,609 in 2009—a 17% decrease in three years.   What is astounding is that this drop in homelessness occurs at a time when we would expect to see an increase in homelessness given the growing number of veterans returning home, and the many challenges they face in securing employment in our tight employment market.

The reason for this turn-around has been two-fold:  the utilization of evidence-based approaches such as Homeless Prevention, Rapid Rehousing, and Housing First; and a new and ongoing sustained infusion of federal funding necessary to bring them to scale.

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By Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

Homelessness is largely the result of extreme poverty, and we know that some households are more vulnerable to becoming homeless than others because of life factors.  For instance, people with serious mental illness have a greater propensity for becoming homeless.  As do young adults in their late teens and early 20’s who have grown up in the foster care system.  Poor families with a young single woman head-of-household with young children are also at higher risk.  Another group that has a higher likelihood of becoming homeless are the men and women who have served in

our military forces.  It is also a fact that persons of color are at greater risk of homelessness than others—especially African Americans and Hispanics.

In January 2013, thousands of individuals throughout Los Angeles County volunteered to undertake a count of people who are homeless on the streets and

By Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

The 12/10/12 LA Times article “Number of chronically homeless, including veterans drops in U.S.” on national efforts to end homelessness reported that over the last five years, there has been a 17% drop for veterans and 19% for long-term homeless people with disabilities buy cheap cialis online referred to as “chronically homeless.”  Clearly, we as a nation are doing a lot of things right with a focus on developing permanent, supportive housing for people who suffer chronic homelessness and funding rental vouchers and crisis support for homeless veterans.

However, in the fine print we learn that

Los Angeles County has the largest number of chronically homeless individuals and veterans—each accounting for 10% of the nation’s figures.  A major reason is that we

receive a far smaller proportion of the federal resources for homelessness than do other cities because of an antiquated formula that does not relate to the incidence of homelessness. On

a per capita basis, Columbus, Ohio receives 3 times and Pittsburgh, PA, 5 times our funding.

The report, “The 2012 Point-in-Time Estimates of Homelessness,” was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and can be found at http://www.hudhre.info/index.cfm?do=viewResource&ResourceID=4726

Written by Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

First 5 was established in 1998 after California voters approved Prop 10, an effort to fund health,

safety and early education programs for children prenatal to age 5 through cialis online revenue from tax on tobacco products.

An audit of Los Angeles County’s First 5 Commission, released in late 2011, disclosed that $800 million in funding from the State’s tobacco taxes had not been allocated for low-income young children and their families.  Seizing the opportunity to advocate on behalf of the growing number of homeless families and those at-risk of homelessness in Los Angeles County, our Executive Director, Ruth Schwartz, organized several family service providers to provide public testimony to the First 5 Commission. (more…)

Written by

Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

Yesterday’s USA Today reported on the disturbing increase in homelessness in New York City, which has resulted in the recent opening of ten new shelters.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2012/10/10/new-york-homeless-wealthy/1623893/

Shortly following Mayor Bloomberg’s decisions to stop providing short-term rental assistance that allowed families leaving shelters to move into their own apartment, and to eliminate homeless families

priority for

publicly subsidized housing, NYC’s homeless population reached an all time high of 46,000

men, women and children—the size of a mid-size American City.

The same could happen in Los Angeles with the recent ending of the three-year $29 million Federal Recovery Act’s Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing program, and our high unemployment rate. (more…)

Written by Ruth Schwartz, Executive Director

Late last year, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directed its Chief Executive Office (CEO) and the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) to evaluate several program options to address the rising costs associated with the near doubling of the General Relief (GR) rolls.

I had the privilege to serve on the GR Options Committee that met over several months and vetted the 11 options.  We have made consensus recommendations to the Board to implement four of the options.  Three of the remaining options have divergent views regarding implementation with the CAO and DPSS recommending in favor, and the advocates recommending against.  There are four other options that are not recommended by the stakeholders.

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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.

Most often, individuals who are frequent users of health

care services have

a chronic health condition and have both untreated serious mental illness and

issues with substance abuse.  They are unable to manage their health care and resort to obtaining services through expensive systems of care including the paramedics, emergency rooms, and hospitals. (more…)

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.

On April 3rd, on a 4-1 vote, the Board of Supervisors approved immediately increasing by 150 vouchers the Section 8 Homeless set-aside.  For the homeless program, the Housing Authority will also reduce the look-back period for criminal offenses from three years to two years, and eliminate the prohibition that individuals on parole or probation be precluded from accessing the program. (more…)

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.