"worsening economy, shortage of affordable housing, cutbacks in welfare programs & personal vulnerabilities all contributing to rise in homelessness"

The report is bleak, friends, and Nashville has many of the same concerns; lack of affordable, supportive and importantly, respite housing (and footdragging on damned near every aspect of procuring more), inadequate, underfunded - and in Nashville's case, fragmented and scatted - government and agency services (at least CA has a "general relief" fund - Nashville has nada), foodstamp disbursements that are often so infinitesimal and difficult to obtain - and keep - as to dissuade many from even bothering to apply, and perhaps most importantly, the wages most of the homeless can earn for jobs around the city fall so far below the poverty level that some don't bother to even try and find a job - what's the point, after all, if you can't afford even a fleabag room at the Drake and a value meal for a day's backbreaking, browbeating labor? Nashville's respect for civil liberties remains disgraceful, too, although I would add here that Lt. Swisher, with Metro PD, is working overtime to combat and correct this image. Additionally, aside from her own performance on the street, she has worked tirelessly within her department lobbying for additional police to become "outreach" trained. If she's successful here, it would go a long way towards helping the homeless in our area, since police officers typically have more 'outreach potential" encounters than any of us. Hospital treatment is often atrocious in Nashville as well, with people being discharged long before they should be, no respite services besides the Guest House to speak of, and a city "insurance" program call "Bridges to Care" through Metro General Hospital that ought to be renamed "Barriers to Care," given the Gestapo-like demeanor of those in charge of admitting people into the program (their latest tactic has been to demand notarized letters from service provider agencies verifying that people are indeed homeless. Apparently, there has been a rash of agency letterhead paper thefts, with exceptionally computer-literate homeless folk typing up "chronically homeless" letters on computers and printing them out on a magical printer located somewhere within the city. Right....) In some facilities' defense however, I can tell you that they often don't have any place to discharge a person into, except for the Guest House - and the Guest House is woefully ill-equipped for anything beyond simple basic treament such as moderate woundcare. I worked with Vanderbilt's Social Services department for two weeks trying to find a gentleman who needed respite care a place to go, to no avail. I haven't heard back from them since, and frankly, I don't blame them - I can't do a thing for them in most of their cases. My only comfort is that Faye had tried damned near everyone else in town before she came to me, yet I still feel horrible that I wasn't able to help. Now, with the economy tanking, food prices prepping for a rocket ride into the stratosphere, compliments of the mighty mississipp, and gas prices so outrageous that only the well-to-do can roll, providing any meaningful assistance doesn't seem like much of a possibility for a growing number of folks who need it most.... L.A.'s homeless: A progress report

A new checklist indicates that we still have a long way to go when it comes to solving the problem.

By Jennifer Wolch, Gary Blasi and Michael Dear June 22, 2008

Nearly 18 months ago, a group of scholars released a study on homelessness in Los Angeles County. The report, "A Reality-based Approach to Ending Homelessness in Los Angeles," said that a worsening economy, a shortage of affordable housing, cutbacks in welfare programs and personal vulnerabilities (including mental disabilities and health-related issues) were all contributing to a rise in homelessness in the county, and that skid row was bearing the brunt of the burden of caring for them. To ameliorate the situation, the study urged that more jobs be created for the homeless; that public assistance be increased so that recipients could better afford a roof over their heads; that more supportive housing be built; that more municipalities provide services for the homeless; and that political leaders across the county cooperate on relieving homelessness. So, has the homeless situation, and the factors that contribute to it, improved? Overall, the number of homeless people in L.A. County has fallen by more than 16% since 2005, according to a count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. In 2007, there were 73,702 homeless people, down from 88,345 in 2005. But although the ranks of Anglo and Latino homeless have declined, the number of African Americans living on the street remains the same. The 54 scholars involved in the January 2007 study, including us, recently identified nine indicators to measure progress on combating homelessness in the county. Here's what we found. * There is still not enough affordable housing. For instance, the city's general housing plan called for 4,000 units to be built annually between 2001 and 2006, but since 2001, the city actually has lost more than 11,000 affordable units. * Supportive housing remains scarce. Such housing provides healthcare, drug treatment, mental health services and counseling for people with special needs, such as a disability. According to the Homeless Services Authority, there is a shortage of 36,000 permanent supportive units in the county. To put it another way, for every bed that becomes available, there are 11 people who want it. * Emergency and transitional housing and services are in short supply. The county is short 5,000 emergency beds and 14,000 transitional beds in hospitals and shelters. For every emergency bed, there are 16 people who need it; for every transitional bed, nine people are waiting. * Government health and welfare programs remain inadequate. For more than 25 years, general relief, the county's last-resort program for unemployed and disabled people, has been $221 a month -- $2,652 a year -- for a single adult, far below the federal poverty level of $10,400 for a one-person household.Not surprisingly, almost two-thirds of general-relief recipients end up homeless. Making matters worse, MediCal and Medicare payments, as well as those from CalWORKS, the state's welfare program, are reaching fewer and fewer homeless adults and children in part because of tightening eligibility standards. * More than half the homeless receive food stamps, the most important federal emergency food program. Typically, however, food stamps, which are distributed once a month, last only 2 1/2 weeks. More than half of general-relief recipients skip meals or reduce meal size because they lack money, according to a survey by Los Angeles County's Department of Public Social Services. * Although many homeless people are employed and are employable, their pay is far below what L.A. County defines as a living wage -- $11.84 an hour. Unfortunately, job-training programs cannot offset this market reality. * L.A.'s respect for the civil liberties of homeless people remains disgraceful. In 2006, the city and the Los Angeles Police Department instituted the Safer City Initiative, which combined aggressive policing against drug dealing, prostitution and thievery on skid row with more social services for those in need. The promised services never materialized, but more than 18,000 skid row residents have been cited or arrested since the program began in September 2006, most often for petty offenses such as littering or crosswalk violations. * Most municipalities in L.A. County spend less than 1% of their operating budgets on homeless services or housing. The result is that the burden of caring for the homeless disproportionately falls on cities, such as Los Angeles, that provide services. Unfortunately, this has not changed since January 2007, and the lack of a regionwide commitment to alleviating homelessness remains an impediment to success. * Political leadership to combat homelessness has improved somewhat. A new leader at the Homeless Services Authority moved rapidly to increase the agency's effectiveness. The county's Project 50, a program that borrows from New York City's successful approaches to homelessness, pledged to put 50 chronically homeless people into supportive housing within 100 days. So far, more than 30 of the hardest-to-house people have shelter. And despite its fiscal travails, the city last year succeeded in amassing $50 million from diverse sources for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, including $8 million of its own funds. This year, however, the city will make no contribution. Clearly, Los Angeles has much to do if it's going to change its status as the homeless capital of the country. Jennifer Wolch and Michael Dear are professors of geography at USC. Gary Blasi is a law professor at UCLA.