Monday, January 19, 2009

Homelessness in LA County: a Look at Skid Row

On Wednesday night the eighth of January, a group of students from UCLA Anderson, and the UCLA School of Urban Planning toured the Skid Row district of downtown Los Angeles with LA City Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose district encompasses Skid Row.  Also with us on the tour were Estella Lopez, Executive director of the Central City East Association, and Captain Rick Wall of the LAPD, who commands patrol officers in the area.  About ten of Captain Wall’s officers accompanied the 30 person walking tour, in cars and on foot.

The first thing one notices about Skid Row is that there are A LOT of people sleeping on the street (which is legal, both in and out of tents, after 9pm).  Many more people crowd the shelters and congregate around their entrances, jostling for access to some of the overstretched social services that are available.  Walking around the corner from the Midnight Mission, one becomes viscerally grateful for the company of armed police officers and the few private security guards that the CCEA brings along.  One is then struck by the fact that all of these veterans - the councilwoman, the cops, the aid workers that are with us – keep remarking on how much improved the situation is compared to the way it used to be.  This is a little overwhelming while one walks through a situation that is an urgent humanitarian crisis unfolding on San Pedro street every night as the sun goes down and the flower shops and fabric outlets close up shop for the night.

The second thing one notices, walking these darkening streets in the company of the officials and volunteers who are trying to help, is their ability to treat the homeless as people.  Councilwoman Perry speaks to a few of them as we queue up to begin the tour.  They pepper her with questions and she responds (she is quite knowledgeable about the services available) to them as constituents.  The social services workers and even some of the police officers spend time talking to the people who are settling in for another night on the sidewalks of Crocker Street, checking on them, taking the pulse of this community.  That’s what Skid Row is, a community, with people and a social order like any other.  The police try to make sure that those unfortunate enough to be living on Skid Row are not murdered or raped in their sleep, but they do seem a little cynical that such a situation persists in a place as wealthy as Los Angeles.

The shelters make a big difference, and there are many of them, but temporary shelter is not a long-term solution for homelessness.  We visited the Skid Row Housing Trust’s Rainbow Apartments, where we met with Cristian Ahumada, housing director and Molly Rysman, PR Director.  SRHT builds supportive housing – subsidized housing with mental, physical, and occupational health services bundled in, that aims to not only house but resocialize the chronically homeless.  After prepping one of Professor Sussman’s real estate cases that afternoon it was a real eye-opener to listen to Cristian talk about how one finances a project that is designed to house people who have no money.  It’s disheartening to realize the extent to which our political society has failed its poorest citizens, but quite inspiring to spend time with people who are expending their personal and professional energies to try to do something about it. 

If you’d like to get involved, there will be ample opportunity this spring as The Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA, UCLA Anderson, the Urban Land Institute’s Los Angeles District Council, and the Westside Urban Forum embark on a three-phase program, called 1000 Homes, aimed at increasing the stock of supportive housing in Los Angeles County by 1000 units in five years. The first phase of 1000 Homes is a planning, design, and development competition among young professionals and graduate students from local universities to generate innovative ideas towards impacting this difficult issue.  

In the meantime, check out the Skid Row Housing Trust at www.skidrow.org, or tour Skid Row yourself the first Wednesday of every month, through www.centralcityeast.org/SkidRow/walk.htm

 

About 80,000 people sleep in the streets of LA each night.  80,000 people.

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