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I proposed to Judge Carter that we use an "Encampment to Homes" approach, and move people directly into housing, through rapid rehousing vouchers, master leasing of apartment buildings, long-term leases with hotels, and shared housing.
Here is a little on Encampment to Homes, an approach that focuses intently on housing an entire community living on the streets.
Shared housing. For $2 million, @shareselfhelp could house 200 people -- dozens of them today -- in homes with roommates. It MUST be part of how we spend money on addressing homelessness.
Master leasing. If we have an inventory of buildings or units on hand, we can move people in right away. The County has done this successfully. I have been pushing for significant investment by the City in this idea and it is finally gaining traction.
Using vacant hotels/motels. Lease. Purchase. Commandeer. There are vacant rooms, hotels are struggling, people are dying. We should not limit the use of hotel rooms to Project Roomkey and to certain eligible populations.
Getting people off the street sooner, BEFORE they become they suffer more trauma. The earlier we help unhoused people get housed, the easier it is to get them housed.
With @LAHomeless' new COVID Recovery Plan, many of these tools are now finally in the toolkit & I want to use them in my district. LA has dabbled with some of these approaches, but has never used them enough.
We can't let people die on the streets while they wait years for PSH. And we can't wait months for new shelters, either. We're a big city, and we have the opportunity to try different approaches in different areas.
