Councilmember Bonin Addresses PPTFH

LAHSA Chief Program Officer Heidi Marston Provides Details

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Councilmember Mike Bonin and Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Chief Program Officer Heidi Marston attended the September 23 Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness community meeting to discuss LA’s homelessness action plans.

Bonin opened the meeting by presenting a certificate to LAPD Officers Jimmy Soliman and Rusty Redican, who he said have been “phenomenally instrumental in helping get people off the street and into housing.”

The councilmember then launched into a history of homelessness throughout LA, including the fact that 921 people experiencing homelessness died on the streets throughout the county last year and that we are on track to surpass that number in 2019.

Bonin listed reasons that people become homeless, including poverty, tragedy in the family and eviction, but reported that one of the biggest contributors is the cost of housing. He explained that the average income in LA is $49,000, but a person needs to make on average $87,000 to live in a two-bedroom apartment.

“What is the solution?” Bonin asked. “It’s housing. There are many other things that help people get unhomeless, but the one thing that is a common denominator, that is a solution for everybody who is homeless, is housing.”

Bonin explained that every level of government has a different role in homelessness and that the city is not usually involved with mental health or health care—but the one thing they can do is land use.

He reported that 8,625 units of affordable housing have been financed through Proposition HHH and he is working on creating 25 bridge housing locations—temporary shelters around the city—with more to come.

“I tend to get feedback on whatever my most controversial idea is, so bridge housing is a controversial idea,” Bonin shared, adding that the city and county are coming together to work on more than 50 different things, including long-term housing, short-term housing, emergency beds, rehabilitating existing buildings, providing safe parking, raising wages and prevention strategies.

Bonin said he is shifting the conversation to faster and less expensive solutions to get people off the streets.

“Permanent supportive housing, absolutely necessary—it has a 90% success rate nationwide—but we need other faster, quicker solutions,” Bonin said.

He added that for people who want to get involved, some ways to help include building an accessory dwelling unit on a property to be rented out, seniors renting out extra rooms to community college students experiencing homelessness and becoming a board member for various organizations.

Bonin explained that the city is looking for more places for the Safe Parking L.A. program, which currently has three spaces on the Westside. He encouraged those who are members of a church, synagogue or mosque, and those who work for a small business with a parking lot, to reach out if the organization is interested in allowing people to park overnight.

After a Q&A session, Marston launched into an explanation of what LAHSA does and does not do.

“LAHSA is a joint power between the city and county of Los Angeles,” Marston explained. “We are in charge of overseeing our entire response system to homelessness.”

This includes street outreach and funding programs, but not developing housing, administering housing vouches or operating shelters.

LAHSA, which keeps track of all of the data when it comes to homelessness, operates a Coordinated Entry System, connecting homeless individuals to services and housing in a way that is designed to be effective, efficient and fair.

“CES tries to take a system and find those people that can’t advocate for themselves to make sure that they have just as much of an opportunity to get housing as the person who comes through the door every single day asking for it,” Marston explained.

When it comes to what the people of the Palisades can do to help, Marston agreed with Bonin’s sentiments. 

“Everything that Mike said is right on—we need everything and we need all of it and we need more of all of it, whatever it is,” Marston shared.

“We also found that there’s a lot of value in collectively advocating for things. Whether it’s at the state level, the federal level, people listen when Los Angeles speaks, especially when we speak with the same voice.”