This homeless situation drives me nuts. I’m encouraged to see Michelle Bisnoff and Carolyn Jordan grab hold of the steering wheel, at least here in Brentwood (see story, page 1).
After years and years of our elected officials doing very little, the taxpayers finally took it upon themselves to raise the money required to build housing for homeless and to provide all the “wrap-around” services (mental health, nutrition, hygiene, job training) that will help get these folks back up on their feet.
So all the excuses are gone. The money is there.
What have we heard so far? The West L.A. VA is willing to take in 10 cars with homeless veterans sleeping inside each night. I guess that’s a start, but it seems pretty pathetic.
Each city council district member has been asked to find housing for 222 units. With 15 districts, that’s 3,330 units. If we can squeeze two individuals into each unit, that’s 6,660 homeless off the street.
That’s great. But that leaves close to 50,000 still on the street.
Even if our political leaders do all they say they will, building 10,000 units of housing over 10 years at a cost of $1.2 billion, we’ll still be leaving approximately 35,000 on the streets. If we can fit two into a unit, that’s 20,000 served. But we start with an estimated homeless population of 55,000.
The crisis is much bigger than the politicians are willing to acknowledge, and their proposed solutions are so piecemeal – “Oh boy, we found a big parking lot we can build on” – that it’s hard to become inspired.
The crew and beneficiaries of San Diego’s Alpha Project stand outside one of the semi-permanent shelters
San Diego has done something pretty amazing. Last year there was a hepatitis A outbreak among a homeless encampment. Soon 20 people were dead and nearly 600 were sickened. That caused city leaders to spring into action.
They built three huge tents, that, in barracks-like fashion, that house over 700 people. The tents took two months to build, at a fraction of the cost permanent supportive housing will cost.
The tents aren’t a perfect, nor permanent, solution. But they offer real hope that we could actually get significant numbers of homeless off the sidewalks in fairly short order at an affordable price.
And the homeless people living in these new tents say they beat the hell out of living on the sidewalks. Everything they need – food, portable toilets, showers, bunkbeds, security, access to mental health professionals and job counselors – is all right there.
At least with tents we can do something for these folks – and in the near-term. It took San Diego only two months to erect the three tents, at a cost of $1.1 million – not bad.
Now those living in the San Diego tents say they are eager to move into more permanent housing, but that will take time.
I’m sure it will take time. that’s why I think the big tents are worth a try. They bridge the gap as something better gets built.
Michelle Bisnoff, co-chair of the Brentwood Community Council Task Force on Homelessness, has already visited the big tents in San Diego. She was impressed.
I am heading down to San Diego in coming days to see all this for myself. I’ll take a lot of pictures and report in next month. There’s hope.
