News

Aug 14

L.A. looks at former museum and factory sites for downtown homeless shelters

“Skid row is the result of years of neglect and legal decisions,” said City Councilman Jose Huizar. “We have to be creative.” Mayor Eric Garcetti has called for a new homeless shelter in every council district by the end of the year to accommodate 23,000 residents who live outdoors. Officials are considering more than two dozen potential sites for new shelters ...
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Aug 1

New LA County website streamlines requesting help for the homeless

As homelessness has spread throughout Los Angeles County, online communities have sprouted up on Facebook, Nextdoor and other websites in which people express alarm and dismay, as well as frustration over not seeing more improvement. Sandy Capps, a Sunland-Tujunga resident who does outreach with several homeless individuals in her neighborhood, said a common response to homelessness is to “complain that there’s ...
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Jul 26

Lawsuit demands L.A. eliminate 'pocket veto' on homeless housing

In Los Angeles, local lawmakers can quietly block affordable and homeless housing in their districts by withholding a required letter. Now, a community group is going to court to demand the city eliminate that “pocket veto.” The lawsuit, filed Thursday by the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, denounces the requirement as “an illegal, unnecessary, arbitrary, and discriminatory barrier to the construction ...
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Jul 24

Pasadena Explores Idea of Converting Hotel, Motel Properties into Affordable Housing Sites

Pasadena is checking out the idea of converting hotels and motels into affordable housing for low-income residents. The City’s Department of Planning and Community Development will present the concept and research about how it might work to the Planning Commission on Wednesday evening. Besides benefiting low-income renters, allowing the conversion of older hotels and motels into refurbished affordable housing could offer an ...
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Jun 27

Californians face November decision on $2-billion spending plan for homeless housing

Californians will decide in November whether to borrow $2 billion to fund new housing for homeless residents. Gov. Jerry Brown authorized the ballot measure Wednesday when he signed the state’s annual budget and related legislation. The measure would draw funding from dollars generated by Proposition 63, a 1% income tax surcharge on millionaires passed in 2004 that funds mental health services. ...
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Jun 15

In LA, 5 percent of newly housed residents are already homeless again

With new funding trickling in from ballot measures H and HHH, Los Angeles County service providers have helped 11,370 homeless residents find permanent housing between July 2017 and March 2018. But the city’s homeless services agency reports that 547 of those people—nearly 5 percent—are already homeless again. “It's very discouraging,” says John Maceri, director of nonprofit The People Concern. “Hours and hours ...
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Jun 1

There are fewer homeless people in L.A. County — but the problem remains grim and unacceptable

For the first time in four years, the number of homeless people in Los Angeles County has decreased. It went down by just a modest 3% (and 5% in just the city of L.A.), but that is still a significant reversal of the shocking double-digit increases of recent years. The dip, reported in the official 2018 “homeless count,” was welcome news. ...
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May 31

Homelessness dips in L.A. and countywide, but Garcetti warns 'a real challenge' still remains

After three years of precipitous increases, homelessness dipped slightly this year, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported Thursday, providing a hopeful sign that new money flowing into housing and services is having an effect. But in releasing results of the 2018 count, officials also warned that the number of people falling into homelessness for the first time increased, holding back the ...
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May 18

Kaiser Permanente to commit $200 million to help communities reduce homelessness

Healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente plans to invest $200 million in community efforts across the country to reduce homelessness, joining a growing list of health systems that are moving to address the housing crisis afflicting many large cities. The commitment — which Kaiser is announcing Friday morning alongside a coalition of mayors and business leaders — marks one of the largest private-sector ...
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Apr 30

King Edward Hotel to Become Affordable Housing

The King Edward Hotel was purchased for $15.25 million including the King Eddy Bar and parking lot space. The King Edward joins the Madison Hotel on Seventh Street, which was purchased for $8 million, and the Sunset 8 Motel for $4.6 million. City and county leaders have spent ample time and resources responding to the worsening homelessness crisis, including persuading voters ...
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