Homeless in Los Angeles
When this editor first moved to New York in the late 70s, I found a job at Scribner’s Book Store on Fifth Avenue, arguably the premiere bookstore in the country at the time. I worked with another man in a center “cashier” booth at the store. He was gay and we often would argue when an attractive man came into the store, who the man would prefer, me or my colleague.
He had disdain for women and referred dismissively to most of them as “Miss Thing.” That thought came to mind, when I received a “Miss Thing” letter from a local children’s book author.
It started:
Oh my God, you call yourself a journalist?
The Rand group published a study of +3 neighborhoods out of the 112 neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Three of the most notoriously TOUGH homeless areas in the city. There WAS on drop in the overall homeless population in Los Angeles. In those three, Venice, Skid Row and Hollywood – the numbers in stayed stable and the encampments reduced.
And the League of Women’s Voters makes NO endorsements for the District Attorney, nor a recommendation for Measure A. Though they are historically all for support of homelessness measures.
WHERE on their website or their ballot suggestions did you find evidence for your claims that they are against A because there is a lack of accountability? Or who they are endorsing for District attorney? SEND ME THE LINK.
And did you even LOOK at the really impressive ACCOUNTABILITY for Measure H’s spending history?
https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-county-homeless-count-d0857248b13845ab09c6f8d20c826754
Your neighborhood news is pleasant and helpful. But when you go unsubstantiated rightwing rag? Not so much. Be a real journalist. Up your game!
WOMAN’S LEAGUE OF VOTERS:
Taken from the Woman League of Voters website.
I initially just printed that they were nonpartisan, when the Palisades Library sent me a press release. I assume the flyer was correct and had done no research, but a reader sent me to their website and it became obvious they do make recommendations. Visit: https://lwvc.org/ballot-recommendations/
RAND GROUP ON HOMELESSNESS:
A story in the Westside Current in June 2024, reported “the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) unveiled a turnaround in its annual Point-in-Time count. The PIT count is an annual event where thousands of volunteers count the sheltered and unsheltered homeless in Los Angeles city and county.
“For the first time in six years, the latest Point-in-Time (PIT) count indicated a decline in homelessness in Los Angeles. Initially, the figures suggest progress, with the county experiencing a 0.22% decrease and the city a 2.2% decrease in the unhoused population. However, a closer examination reveals a more grim reality. The count did not include those who had died, such as Baby Fowler, Hart, or Davis.
“Additionally, the RAND report indicates that the noted decrease was largely attributed to deaths. According to a May 2024 Homeless Mortality Report, deaths among the homeless population increased 30% faster than the population itself over the past eight years.”
The Rand report that the children’s book author is cited is quoted below:
“A yearlong count of unsheltered people in three parts of Los Angeles found no growth over the period, although areas with substantial encampment resolution activities did see temporary drops lasting two to three months on average, according to a new RAND report. Key findings included:
- In areas that had substantial encampment resolution activities, temporary declines that lasted two to three months on average were observed in the unsheltered population. The share of unhoused people living literally unsheltered (without a tent or vehicle) in Venice increased from 20 percent to 46 percent, a change that corresponds with policy changes in the neighborhood regarding tent encampments.
- More than one-half of survey respondents reported a chronic mental health condition, about one-half reported a chronic physical health condition, and about one-half reported a substance use disorder. Respondents in Skid Row were older and less healthy than respondents from the other two neighborhoods.
- About one-half of survey respondents reported being on the streets for three years or longer. About two-thirds of respondents were actively looking for housing. Respondents in Venice were less likely to be actively looking for housing, had less time on the streets, and were less likely to have been last housed in California.
https://allaspectreport.com/2024/01/27/another-los-angeles-homeless-count-another-fiasco/
https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/29022-homelessness-pit-counts-trust-and-people
Additionally, as this editor reported, the LAHSA count did not include the beaches, and many people doing the count had problems with the new app. (This editor has participated in the homeless count in Pacific Palisades every year since its inception.)
MEASURE H ACCOUTABILITY:
CAL Matters reported that a scathing audit released earlier this year found California fails to track both how much it spends on homeless services, and whether that spending is effective. And the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (one of the main agencies that distributes homeless funding in Los Angeles County) is currently being audited as part of a legal settlement between advocates for the rights of unhoused residents and the city and county of LA. A federal judge overseeing that settlement recently blasted the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority for failing to make records of its spending available, according to LAist.
A recent audit, conducted by Tim Campbell for the LA Alliance for Human Rights, —an organization consisting of a wide range of Los Angeles residents and business owners advocating for immediate and thorough solutions to the city’s homelessness crisis—revealed that $210 million from Measure H—a sales tax increase approved by county voters to create a dedicated revenue stream for combating and preventing homelessness—remains unspent. https://www.westsidecurrent.com/news/audit-blasts-la-county-for-failing-homeless-and-mentally-ill-286m-unspent/article_5410f9c4-c969-11ee-ad66-0b30927bf50c.html
UNSUBSTANTIATED RIGHT WING
If this editor spends money on something such as the Measure A tax, which hurts lower income people more than the wealthy people such as the Pacific Palisades children’s book author, I don’t think its unreasonable to ask how the money is being used and to see the results of the spending. If asking for accountability makes you right wing, then I plead guilty. Los Angeles and California need less sheepble and more people willing to ask questions.
Well said, Sue! What a jughead this person must be–contemptuous and arrogant.
Keep up your important work!
Why isn’t the FBI involved in looking into hundreds of millions of unaccounted for unhoused money in the county? While at the state level it may well be BILLIONS? This is corruption at the highest levels of government.
Well Done!
In all the years you’ve been on my radar as a reporter, I have found you to be among the best. You identify topics clearly and have always shown the ‘evidence’. You have uncovered many stories during the part of your career that crossed paths with mine. The reporting was not over the top and doesn’t come from the ‘If it bleeds, it leads.’ school of journalism. The work is solid, informative and fits the audience. We are lucky to have you – your work output is strong enough to to succeed in any market. I respectfully but strongly, disagree with that reader’s opinion. Stick with us, Sue. We may not agree with everything you write but we are all better for your sharing it with us!
P.S. Remember, it’s not what they call you. It’s what you ANSWER to that defines you.
Clearly, the author hasn’t done the hard work real journalists like you do to look past the sound bites and platitudes issued by local governments. Every time the auditors issue an update to Carter, we see how bad things really are. Keep it up!!