When the Los Angeles City Council voted in July to reinstate a ban on sleeping overnight in vehicles parked on residential streets, it imposed yet another obstacle for homeless Angelenos forced to live in their cars – the number of whom exceed 10,000 by some estimates and more than 15,000 by others.
The issue of homelessness triggers impassioned responses both from advocates for those who live on the streets and from residents and business owners frustrated at the impact of ad hoc encampments that can blight a neighborhood. But the council’s decision is likely to leave all sides dissatisfied.
At a time when the homeless population in Los Angeles and other large California cities is rising by double-digit percentages annually, our over-extended municipal sector alone cannot solve this pressing social issue. We need collaborative solutions from all sectors of our communities.
That is why one example – the launch by Safe Parking L.A. of its Jewish Community Safe Lots program – is an encouraging step forward. The nonprofit organization will engage with synagogues throughout the city to provide off-street parking for people living in their vehicles, with security and access to restrooms and other facilities, along with social service resources. The initiative builds on work combatting homelessness that Safe Parking L.A. began with IKAR, a spiritual community noted for its social-justice brand of Judaism.
The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation), the organization which I proudly lead, recently awarded a $300,000 grant to this program because we recognize our homelessness epidemic will not be solved by a single “magic bullet.” We need to explore a range of social innovations like that of Safe Parking L.A.
Why has a Jewish foundation taken such a keen interest in our homeless crisis? We believe those with resources that can help ameliorate this problem must step up, get involved and lead by example. Homelessness in Los Angeles has reached a level that cannot be remedied by the municipal sector alone. A humanitarian crisis such as this is precisely what community foundations exist to address; our Foundation’s actions are governed by the Jewish precept of tikkun olam – “healing the world.”
Underscoring the need for innovation beyond the public sector is the slower-than-expected impact of two government initiatives: L.A. County Measure H, which increased sales taxes to generate funds for homeless services, and the city’s Proposition HHH, which earmarked $1.2 billion to build 10,000 housing units for the homeless. Last week, City Controller Ron Galperin released an audit of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority that excoriated the agency for its operational failure to hit minimum performance benchmarks.
Despite these stumbles, there are numerous local bright spots of innovation addressing this daunting problem. In fact, Los Angeles was recently lauded at a national conference on homelessness as being at the forefront of solutions to this crisis, thanks to groundbreaking programs that may not make headlines but which offer genuine promise. These include:
- Brilliant Corners’ Motel Conversion Project. Under provisions of the city’s 2018 Interim Motel Conversion Ordinance, Brilliant Corners will renovate a mid-city motel to provide housing for dozens of homeless individuals. This is a pilot project; more than 380 hotels have 10,000 rooms that could prospectively become permanent supportive housing, far faster and cheaper than new construction.
- The Shared Family Interim Housing effort of LA Family Housing. It will purchase and renovate three homes in the San Fernando Valley to provide interim housing for homeless individuals and families, in neighborhoods with schools, parks, supportive services and a sense of community – all critical to minimizing the disruptive impact of homelessness on children.
- The People Concern’s Scalable Permanent Supportive Housing initiative. In partnership with FlyawayHomes, the program will leverage private investment dollars and modular-building techniques to reduce the time and cost to develop housing. Their ambitious goal is 10 to 15 facilities within two years to house up to 300 homeless individuals.
Each of these groundbreaking initiatives – all supported by Foundation grants totaling $600,000 – demonstrates bold thinking, but also another key element: scalability.
Great programs – those that can make a real difference and that can integrate the efforts of public-sector and private solution-providers – require the ability to build upon their successes. And, because they are testing new approaches, they must not be afraid to try and fail…and learn from that failure as they try again.
Homelessness is a complex, large-scale problem that requires bold interventions from organizations like those highlighted above, in addition to and in partnership with the public sector.
These solutions offer a near-term pathway into permanent housing for people now living on our streets. The success of these efforts can encourage other funders and community leaders to work together to make a better Los Angeles for all of us.
Marvin I. Schotland is president and chief executive officer of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.
