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Report Says Homelessness Down 38%
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| Andy Bales, CEO of the Union Rescue Mission, is spearheading a new project he hopes will reduce the homeless population of Skid Row by 90% in three years. Photo by Gary Leonard. |
New Plan to House People Emerges as Study Finds Fewer Sleeping on Streets
by Ryan Vaillancourt, Staff Writer
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – Despite the ongoing recession and soaring unemployment, a new study says that homelessness in Los Angeles County has decreased by 38% since 2007.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority conducted the count over three days in January, enlisting about 3,000 people to walk census tracts throughout the county (Glendale, Long Beach and Pasadena did their own counts). The study found that the number of people homeless on any given night in the region has shrunk from 68,808 to 42,694.
Mike Arnold, executive director of LAHSA, hesitated to credit the reduction to any particular program or trend, but said the drop comes as public agencies have focused more on getting people housed than offering other stop-gap services.
“We have really a remarkable group of agencies who have transformed themselves from making homelessness more comfortable to actually focusing on outcomes,” Arnold said.
The biennial count is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which uses the statistics as a guideline for distributing federal funds to support homeless services.
The report is not complete: LAHSA is still analyzing its data, looking into changes specific to certain demographics and geographic areas in the city, including Skid Row.
Hidden Families
While many in the homeless services sector cheered the findings released on Wednesday, Oct. 28, others were skeptical of the report, specifically its claim that the number of homeless families has dropped from 16,643 in 2007 to 4,885 in 2009.
Rev. Andy Bales, CEO of the Union Rescue Mission in Skid Row, said his facility has seen a significant increase in homeless families coming through its doors in the past two years. The mission, he said, served 493 homeless families in January 2009, up from 248 in January 2007.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services has seen an increase in homeless families participating in its CalWorks program, from about 5,700 in January 2007 to 7,900 in January 2009.
“Any reduction of homelessness among individuals has been outpaced by families,” Bales said. “There’s no question in my mind.”
Most of LAHSA’s data on families was attained via its “hidden homeless” survey, which involved more than 4,000 telephone interviews with random households in the county. Those were used to extrapolate a regional estimate. The data includes the numbers of homeless families staying at missions and shelters, among them the Union Rescue Mission, during the count, Arnold said.
The Midnight Mission has also seen an increase in families, though not as dramatic as the Union Rescue Mission recorded, said Larry Adamson, president of the Midnight Mission.
Arnold suggested that any discrepancy between the LAHSA count and traffic at the missions may be tied to the fact that Skid Row, though home to the highest concentration of homelessness in the region, represents a small slice of the greater Los Angeles pie that was surveyed. More families that were homeless in 2007 may also have found relatives to share space with, Arnold said.
Big Reduction
The LAHSA report was unveiled the same day that Bales and a coalition of homeless services providers, along with city and county officials, gathered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to initiate a new effort to rally faith communities. They hope to help reduce homelessness in Skid Row by 90% in three years.
Religious organizations have long been involved in efforts to reduce homelessness, but Imagine L.A., a 3-year-old group that is teaming up with the Union Rescue Mission, wants Los Angeles churches, temples and mosques to know that food and clothing donations aren’t cutting it.
Imagine L.A. aims to connect various faith “communities” in the region with one homeless family. Participating churches and other religious groups essentially adopt a homeless family and lend support, helping them through the affordable housing process and developing the skills to keep them off the streets.
Jill Govan Bauman, Imagine L.A. president and CEO, said the program is an effort to have organizations do more than provide material goods.
“We’re providing a safe environment for faith community volunteers to get involved in solution charity, to really be involved in changing peoples’ lives, not just giving them a coat,” said Govan Bauman.
Imagine L.A. has walked one church/family partnership through its two-year program, and 12 other families are in various stages of the program, Govan Bauman said. Another 88 faith communities have signed on to be connected with a family, and Govan Bauman said she expects the number to increase via the partnership with Union Rescue Mission.
The plan was one of 10 components of the larger effort detailed by Bales to reach the 90% reduction in homelessness by 2012. But the linkage with Imagine L.A. may have been the only immediately tangible piece of the plan: Also cited as components were getting away from a mindset that treats the homeless as statistics and urging the county to expand its Project 50 program, which has sought to house 50 of the area’s most vulnerable homeless individuals, to Project 500.
“I don’t think its over optimistic,” Bales said. “To reduce it by 100% might be a little over optimistic.”
Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.
page 3, 11/2/2009
©Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to re-distribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority conducted the count over three days in January, enlisting about 3,000 people to walk census tracts throughout the county (Glendale, Long Beach and Pasadena did their own counts). The study found that the number of people homeless on any given night in the region has shrunk from 68,808 to 42,694.
Mike Arnold, executive director of LAHSA, hesitated to credit the reduction to any particular program or trend, but said the drop comes as public agencies have focused more on getting people housed than offering other stop-gap services.
“We have really a remarkable group of agencies who have transformed themselves from making homelessness more comfortable to actually focusing on outcomes,” Arnold said.
The biennial count is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which uses the statistics as a guideline for distributing federal funds to support homeless services.
The report is not complete: LAHSA is still analyzing its data, looking into changes specific to certain demographics and geographic areas in the city, including Skid Row.
While many in the homeless services sector cheered the findings released on Wednesday, Oct. 28, others were skeptical of the report, specifically its claim that the number of homeless families has dropped from 16,643 in 2007 to 4,885 in 2009.
Rev. Andy Bales, CEO of the Union Rescue Mission in Skid Row, said his facility has seen a significant increase in homeless families coming through its doors in the past two years. The mission, he said, served 493 homeless families in January 2009, up from 248 in January 2007.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services has seen an increase in homeless families participating in its CalWorks program, from about 5,700 in January 2007 to 7,900 in January 2009.
“Any reduction of homelessness among individuals has been outpaced by families,” Bales said. “There’s no question in my mind.”
Most of LAHSA’s data on families was attained via its “hidden homeless” survey, which involved more than 4,000 telephone interviews with random households in the county. Those were used to extrapolate a regional estimate. The data includes the numbers of homeless families staying at missions and shelters, among them the Union Rescue Mission, during the count, Arnold said.
The Midnight Mission has also seen an increase in families, though not as dramatic as the Union Rescue Mission recorded, said Larry Adamson, president of the Midnight Mission.
Arnold suggested that any discrepancy between the LAHSA count and traffic at the missions may be tied to the fact that Skid Row, though home to the highest concentration of homelessness in the region, represents a small slice of the greater Los Angeles pie that was surveyed. More families that were homeless in 2007 may also have found relatives to share space with, Arnold said.
The LAHSA report was unveiled the same day that Bales and a coalition of homeless services providers, along with city and county officials, gathered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to initiate a new effort to rally faith communities. They hope to help reduce homelessness in Skid Row by 90% in three years.
Religious organizations have long been involved in efforts to reduce homelessness, but Imagine L.A., a 3-year-old group that is teaming up with the Union Rescue Mission, wants Los Angeles churches, temples and mosques to know that food and clothing donations aren’t cutting it.
Imagine L.A. aims to connect various faith “communities” in the region with one homeless family. Participating churches and other religious groups essentially adopt a homeless family and lend support, helping them through the affordable housing process and developing the skills to keep them off the streets.
Jill Govan Bauman, Imagine L.A. president and CEO, said the program is an effort to have organizations do more than provide material goods.
“We’re providing a safe environment for faith community volunteers to get involved in solution charity, to really be involved in changing peoples’ lives, not just giving them a coat,” said Govan Bauman.
Imagine L.A. has walked one church/family partnership through its two-year program, and 12 other families are in various stages of the program, Govan Bauman said. Another 88 faith communities have signed on to be connected with a family, and Govan Bauman said she expects the number to increase via the partnership with Union Rescue Mission.
The plan was one of 10 components of the larger effort detailed by Bales to reach the 90% reduction in homelessness by 2012. But the linkage with Imagine L.A. may have been the only immediately tangible piece of the plan: Also cited as components were getting away from a mindset that treats the homeless as statistics and urging the county to expand its Project 50 program, which has sought to house 50 of the area’s most vulnerable homeless individuals, to Project 500.
“I don’t think its over optimistic,” Bales said. “To reduce it by 100% might be a little over optimistic.”
Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.
page 3, 11/2/2009
©Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to re-distribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
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Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of ladowntownnews.com.
Isaiah wrote on Oct 28, 2009 4:50 PM:
" This is great news!!! We still have away to go but it proves that together we can change our world for the better. Thank you to all that work to end homelessness. Much love and Peace. "
Vanzant wrote on Oct 28, 2009 9:11 PM:
" Could it be with a down economy people are not giving money to beggers anymore, thus not perpetuating their lifestyle? "
Dan wrote on Oct 29, 2009 12:01 PM:
" The individual observations are just as credible as the homeless count that took place utilizing 3,000 volunteers. Here in East West Hollywood the homelessness problem is disturbing and the situation in Hollywood has not improved. "
Ruso wrote on Oct 29, 2009 1:21 PM:
" Great news? I don't know.
If all those 28000 "missing" homeless either found jobs and rooms, or at least new shelters, then yes those are good news. But if they died off, or migrated to a different region, then what good news is that? "
If all those 28000 "missing" homeless either found jobs and rooms, or at least new shelters, then yes those are good news. But if they died off, or migrated to a different region, then what good news is that? "
doug wrote on Oct 29, 2009 1:36 PM:
" The 2007 number was 68,608 not 71K.
Source: http://www.lahsa.org/homelessness_data/results.asp "
Source: http://www.lahsa.org/homelessness_data/results.asp "
Emora wrote on Oct 30, 2009 8:00 AM:
" The article left some very important questions.
Where did 30,000 people suddenly go? To suddenly attribute the change in numbers to this "continuum of care" (whatever that is) seem unlikely, and politically self-serving.
How much of a factor was migration? Policing (by third-party security not necessarily PD) efforts were signifcantly stepped up in "tourist" areas--was that part of the "continuum of care.?" No mention...
How many people die homeless annually in the city? Was there also a change in the death rates? A coincide might support actual improvement. No mention...
Specifically, what new program helped 30,000 people suddenly get off the streets? Were 30,000 new jobs suddenly created? Unlikely in this economy. No mention...
Was there an increase in social care funding that helped get these people off the streets? No mention...
Before anyone starts patting themselves on the back at the housing authority, part of their job is to know why? Analysis of events is important in determining effectiveness of programs and the funding of future ones.
Dig, dig, dig...It's a story worthy of more detail...I look forward to a followup story... "
Where did 30,000 people suddenly go? To suddenly attribute the change in numbers to this "continuum of care" (whatever that is) seem unlikely, and politically self-serving.
How much of a factor was migration? Policing (by third-party security not necessarily PD) efforts were signifcantly stepped up in "tourist" areas--was that part of the "continuum of care.?" No mention...
How many people die homeless annually in the city? Was there also a change in the death rates? A coincide might support actual improvement. No mention...
Specifically, what new program helped 30,000 people suddenly get off the streets? Were 30,000 new jobs suddenly created? Unlikely in this economy. No mention...
Was there an increase in social care funding that helped get these people off the streets? No mention...
Before anyone starts patting themselves on the back at the housing authority, part of their job is to know why? Analysis of events is important in determining effectiveness of programs and the funding of future ones.
Dig, dig, dig...It's a story worthy of more detail...I look forward to a followup story... "
Andy Bales wrote on Nov 1, 2009 7:05 PM:
" Great questions by all. The LAHSA count completely missed on counting families. LA Department of Social Services concrete numbers show family homeless up 40% County wide. Emergency calls to County 211 hotline by unemployed foreclosed on and evicted families were doubled over previous years County Wide. The rise in families experiencing homeless was 5700 to 7900 representing between 20,000 to 24000 individuals missing from this count, and since homelessness lags behind homelessness it is projected to rise to 10,000 families. This really calls into question the entire count. If I thought it was accurate, I would be the first to celebrate, as no one has stepped up to collaborate with LAHSA more than URM & EIMAGO. "
Andy Bales wrote on Nov 2, 2009 11:06 AM:
" Great questions, Emora! I must admit that I was astounded by the results of the 2009 LAHSA(Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority) Count. I was especially confounded by the reported 70% reduction in homeless families with children! Our experience for the last 2 years, especially the last 13 months at Union Rescue Mission had us accurately reporting the greatest Tsunami of families with children that we have ever faced in our 118 year history, including the Great Depression. Of the more than 224 families who came to our doors in the last 8 months, 53% reported that they were homeless for the first time. We had to scramble to open up an entire wing for 2 parent families and single dads with children, to add to our already entire 4th floor filled with single moms and children. Our staff stepped up, reduced their salaries twice, so that we could welcome all who came during this crisis of families experiencing homelessness, a crisis that was reported throughout Los Angeles and the country. We opened up our community rooms, our day rooms, and even our chapel to accommodate every family. Families and children at Union Rescue Mission are up 99% since 2007 and our meals each day are up 46%. Emergency calls to the LA County wide 211 hot line from families made homeless by unemployment, eviction and foreclosure doubled during this time and Union Rescue Mission became one of the few places of last resort. An emergency forum of all who worked with families experiencing homelessness was called earlier this year to face this crisis. What is most amazing is that LAHSA was a big responder to this crisis. They helped URM/Eimago secure hotel vouchers for the dozens of families representing a 600% increase over the previous year arriving at our LA County wide Winter Shelters sponsored by LAHSA. LAHSA played a key role in providing services, strategy, and resources to address the challenge, and LAHSA deployed Federal Stimulus funds for Rapid Re-housing to area agencies to deal with the crisis of this new face of homelessness, first time, low barrier families. As you read in Ryan's story there has been a 40% increase in LA County wide families on Cal Works alone becoming homeless, this is hard evidence that what Union Rescue Mission and other agencies assisting homeless families was well documented by the Los Angeles Department of Social Services. This concrete evidence shows at least 8100 families, possibly 20,000 to 24,000 individuals, are family members experiencing homelessness, yet the LAHSA count only documents less than 5,000 individuals as part of families experiencing homelessness? As homelessness lags behind unemployment, the number of homeless families is estimated to reach 10,000, and we need to prepare for that, but instead we get a report that says that homelessness among families with children has dropped by 70%? As a friend of mine suggested, this is like getting in your car, punching in data in the Navigation system to travel to somewhere near Mid Wilshire, West, and instead your system tells you to go South toward Long Beach. Almost all of us would know that something was wrong with the data before we left our driveway. Yet, LAHSA not only left the driveway, but published the results, and patted themselves on the back for helping to make these results happen, and then had some local economists mention that “though it seemed counter-intuitive, the results are accurate!” I must say that these results are not only counter-intuitive, but absolutely wrong. Any fractional decrease in numbers of individuals experiencing homelessness were outpaced by the rise in families becoming homeless since 2007. I must end by applauding LAHSA’s leadership in providing services, strategy, coordinating services, and deploying resources to step up to meet the Tsunami of need that we have faced over the last 18 months to 24 months, however, I’d like to suggest that they continue in this role and possibly look elsewhere for an entity who can carry out an objective and accurate account. "
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