CommentsHOMELESSNESS RESPONSE REPORT-This article references the Office of the City Administrative Officer (CAO) Reports of 2/23/21 and 3/18/21,
with the purpose of increasing public awareness of the June 16, 2020 agreement the City of Los Angeles (City) reached with the County of Los Angeles (County) to develop an additional 6,700 homeless interventions -- interim housing beds and safe parking sites -- within 18 months to address the COVID-19 emergency. This development plan is referred to as the COVID-19 Homelessness Roadmap (Roadmap).
Since the City/County agreement was reached, city finance offices, Engineering, the General Services Department (GSD), the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and other relevant departments have worked with the 15 Council Districts to identify, review, and recommend properties for Roadmap homeless Interventions, according to first report.
Subsequently, on Sept 9, 2020, City Council approved funding for the initial Roadmap projects and directed the CAO Office to submit funding recommendations for projects via Reports. Accordingly, Mayor Eric Garcetti and the LA City Council approved and funded 23 properties -- out of 154 sites identified across Council Districts (CDs) for Roadmap interventions for up to five years.
Of the 23 approved and funded properties by Council Districts (at the time of report),
CD13 had four properties;
CD 2, 3, and 15 each had three;
CD 9, 11, 12, and 14 each had two;
CD 4 and 5 each had one, per the report pages 4 and 5.
Further, the 23 properties include 11 interim housing and 12 safe parking sites.
The 11 interim housing sites include 4 buildings providing a total of 429 beds, and the 7 properties of Tiny Home-pallets providing a total 823 beds. (See May 21, 2021 photo above showing Echo Park Interim Housing Pallets at 1455-1461 N. Alvarado Street. Construction cost totals $5,695,000 for 74 beds.) Moreover, the 12 Safe Parking sites provide a total of 233 beds. Thus, the 23 properties would provide 1,485 beds for homeless people.
Roadmap homeless intervention sites are required to meet the Feasibility Assessment which includes assessing for size, suitability, and cost. For example, the size component entails, “the minimum size to accommodate beds, administrative offices, hygiene trailers, storage, pet area, and common space,” while a component of the cost involves the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review as conducted by the Bureau of Engineering.
After City review, 100 identified sites were deemed infeasible for a variety of reasons: Contamination; safety concerns due to high industrial use or active power stations; unsafe to operate safe parking; landlords not interested in leasing for homeless interventions or for a three-to-five-year term; too small for safe parking or interim housing; or, not in the City of LA.
The CAO 3/18/21 Report (the fifth Roadmap funding report), in anticipation of the expenditure extension deadline of the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) of December 31, 2021, “replaces $17,560,289 in the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program (HHAP) with CRF funds, to eight (8) previously approved interim housing sites.” The sites are listed in the report on page 13 and includes the replacement of HHAP Funding with CRF Funding with the exact dollar-to-dollar amount of $17,560,289.
The eight (8) projects provide a total 924 beds. The two highest dollar amounts listed are $6.7 million for a project with 150 beds in CD 2; and, $6.0 million for another project with 107 beds in CD 12.
This report also requests that LAHSA identify unfunded interim housing beds that could be funded and added to the Roadmap. 268 beds were identified at 6 sites. $1.39 million were recommended to fund these beds from April 1, 2021 through June 30, 2021. But at a Council meeting on 3/25/21, another LAHSA site was identified bringing the total to 7 sites with 418 unfunded beds. An amended recommendation to approve $2,139,865 for operation costs was submitted in writing with the same time frame.
In addition, this report includes Roadmap funding, the County’s commitment to providing $60 million in services per year over five years for a total of $300 million or half of the estimated $600 million.
As of March 10, 2021, up to 8,810 interventions have been approved. 2,919 of these have been completed; 2,831 are in progress; and 3,000 are rapid rehousing/shared housing interventions being implemented by LAHSA.
Last, the 3/18/21 report states that at this time, there is no impact to the General Fund as a result of these fiscal recommendations. The recommendations in this report will be funded with CARES Act, Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP), and the County of Los Angeles service funding commitment in Fiscal Years 2020-21 and 2021-22.
References:
CAO Report 2/23/21 can be found in Council Files: 20-1351; 20-0689; 20-0841
CAO Report of 3/18/21 can be found in Council Files: 18-0628; 20-0841; 20-0941
LA City Council, Item 3, March 25, 2021 Amended Recommendations: C.F. 20-084
(Connie Acosta is a writer and a member of the City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Council System.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
