Another sharp rise in homelessness...

[humble3d]

Another sharp rise in homelessness...

 

 

 

Homelessness rose 11% in the city of Los Angeles and 5.7% in the county last year despite an intensive federal push that slashed the county ranks of homeless veterans by nearly a third, according to a report released Wednesday.

 

The increase marks the fourth consecutive year of rising homelessness in L.A., as local officials struggle to identify funding for billion-dollar plans they approved to solve the nation’s most intractable homeless problem.

 

Countywide, nearly 47,000 homeless people were counted in 2016, up from 44,000 in 2015 and 39,000 in 2013, the homeless report said. Nearly two-thirds — 28,000 — were in the city of Los Angeles.

 

The 11% increase in the city follows a 12% increase for the two-year period covered in the previous count. The most visible form of homelessness — tents, shantytowns and vehicles with people living in them — climbed 20% across most of the county, on top of a staggering 85% jump reported a year ago, according to results from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s 2016 count.
Combing the streets with L.A.'s homeless counters

 

Homelessness among women has increased since 2013, from 9,000 to 14,461, the homeless authority report said.

 

“I’ve been predicting the problem was going to get worse before it got better,” City Councilman Mike Bonin said.

 

Mayor Eric Garcetti blamed the city’s increase on a “historic” housing shortage, a mental health crisis and a jump in veterans landing in the streets, and said the city’s success in housing veterans and others — 10,000 people in 2015 — proved its “strategic efforts are working.”

 

“This year, we are doubling down on our work,” Garcetti said in a statement.

 

Critics said the city had ignored the housing shortage, even as rents soared and widespread gentrification drove low-income people out of their homes.

 

“The housing crisis for the very poor has only intensified, and the city has done nothing to address it,” said retired UCLA law professor Gary Blasi, who has studied homelessness for decades.
2016 Los Angeles County homeless count results
2016 Los Angeles County homeless count results

 

The city's recent approval of a minimum wage hike has not begun to boost earnings, which lag far behind rents, officials said.

 

“In L.A., the job is just trying to create the housing stock,” said Vince Kane, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert A. McDonald’s senior advisor on homelessness.

 

“Clearly, the city and county are reaping the results of ignoring this crisis for two decades,” said Mark Ryavec, president of Venice Stakeholders Assn.

 

Officials say they made an extra effort to accurately count homeless people younger than 25. The tally of 2,388 helped drive the overall increase, said homeless authority Executive Director Peter Lynn.

 

Homelessness up 12% in L.A. city and county

 

In a positive note, the number of homeless veterans in Los Angeles County, which has long had the highest concentration in the nation, dropped to 3,071 in 2016 from 4,362 in 2015, after an infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars in housing and other aid from the VA and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

 

After a landmark legal settlement over the VA’s treatment of homeless veterans, McDonald personally directed the drive, making repeat visits to L.A., replacing the local VA jurisdiction’s leadership and distributing hundreds of rent vouchers and $30 million in housing subsidies and other aid to families.

 

More than 3,800 homeless veterans were housed in 2015, and 8,400 since January 2014, officials said.

 

“A lot of credit goes to Secretary McDonald,” said Philip Mangano, who served as homelessness policy czar for President George W. Bush. “I know he spent the political chits with Congress and with the administration to make sure L.A. had the resources.”

 

Bonin and the mayor said the success in housing veterans showed the region’s approach, which will largely kick in this year, works.
Almost 7,500 volunteers are signed up to help count L.A. County's homeless

 

Bonin also said the disappointing count results should lend urgency to the city’s plan to impose a fee on developers to fund its $1.87-billion homeless housing plan adopted earlier this year.

 

The homeless tally, which is required to receive federal funding, is based on a street count, conducted over three days in January, plus shelter data, survey results and demographic extrapolation and analysis.

 

It reflects a point in time; many more people become homeless during the year, and it is used as a benchmark to gauge year-to-year progress and assess need rather than act as a strict census.

 

Los Angeles Times Knight-Mozilla Fellow Christine Zhang contributed to this report.

 

 

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-homeless-count-20160504-story.html

 

[vibranium]

Zowie. Veterans, homeless? That's a crime!