Palisades Taskforce on Homelessness
Councilman Mike Bonin will address homelessness.
Councilman Mike Bonin and Chief Program Officer for Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Heidi Marston will address Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness at 7 p.m. on Monday, September 23, at the Pacific Palisades Library 861 Alma Real.
In Bonin’s August newsletter, a story “City Controller Echoes Mike’s Calls for Reform in Audit of LAHSA,” acknowledges that Ron Galperin had issued a scathing audit at the end of August about LAHSA’s contract with the City of Los Angeles homeless outreach.
“Parts of it ring true and echo what Mike has been saying for more than a year,” the newsletter stated. “And parts of it fault the agency for problems created by others.
“Mike agrees with one of the audit’s main points: that LAHSA has been doing a poor job with data.”
Bonin also said he was “furious to learn recently that participants in safe parking programs at his field offices had not been in entered into the Coordinated Entry System – a precursor to services and housing.”
“But LAHSA didn’t create and doesn’t prefer a reactive, complaint-based system that focuses outreach workers on ineffective encampment cleanups. LAHSA outreach workers should be focused on helping people get off the street, not following garbage trucks to cleanups.”
Bonin thanked Galperin for the report and said he looked forward to working closely with LAHSA.
Come hear how the City and LAHSA plan to interact and spend the $440 million in the L.A. City Budget, the portion of the $650 million they will receive from the state and the $2 billion that was included in Proposition 2 (homeless housing bond that voters approved in November). According to a LAHSA budget for 2017-18, found on the internet, the total funding available was $138,909,702.
(Editor’s note: Of the 168 homeless in Pacific Palisades (2016-2019), the PPTFH has helped 102 people off the streets with 72 moved to permanent housing. Maybe Bonin and LAHSA should take notes from PPTFH.)