Without a Plan

It is undeniable that the City of Los Angeles is in the midst of a housing crisis that has left over 45,000 people without permanent housing, forced to live in their cars, on the street or in tents on the sides of the freeways. Many people have been working tirelessly to address this existential crisis while a very vocal minority have sat on the sidelines and done nothing but assault as inappropriate and even hostile to their ways of life every single effort made by those working on solutions.

For two years I have watched in dismay as proposal after proposal, initiative after initiative was rejected, attacked and even vilified by a small group of people set on preserving their way of life. No feasible or plausible alternatives are proposed.

Prior to 2021, Westchester had never, to my knowledge, had a single homeless shelter, transitional housing or other supportive housing until the City/County recently purchased the Super 8 motel in Westchester to house dozens of homeless, particularly those living in the Westchester Park. Still there are hundreds of homeless living in hostile and inhuman conditions in Westchester / Playa; more must be done yet you reject every effort.

EXTENDED STAY AMERICA HOTEL CONVERSION WOULD OFFER 133 DWELLING UNITS, BUT YOU’VE NOT BEEN HEARD – BUT YOU HAVE

You didn’t want them on your sidewalks, in your alleys or on your lawns.   It was “inhuman to treat them like this” and “they are defecating everywhere” you said. 

You did not want them in your underpasses.  They were “not being treated with dignity” you said.

You did not want them in your parks because you feared for your safety and the safety of your children.

I am not aware of a single housed resident of Westchester who was harmed by a homeless person from the park in the nearly 2 years that the park was a home to 60 to 80 unhoused. To be clear, there were attacks on the homeless in the park, both by other homeless who did not settle into the normative behavior of most of those living there or from gangs preying on the homeless by selling them drugs and extorting money from them.

You did not want them in the municipal parking lot because you feared for the safety of the elderly hoping to visit the senior center.

You said there were drug needles and human feces everywhere in your park.

I do not deny that a needle may have been seen in the park, but I am fairly certain it is impossible to distinguish a needle used for taking Class A drugs from those used for treating diabetes or other similar diseases that disproportionally affect those with poor health care. Add to that, I spent many hours in the park in 2021 including several days in November helping those being moved to temporary housing clean up and organize their belongings. I walked the entire park dozens of times and never saw a needle or human feces.

You did not want safe camping or safe parking in your neighborhoods, rejecting every single option explored by the City.

You keep reminding us that you supported the safe parking pilot at the municipal building.  That was 6 spaces in a gated and locked enclosure with concrete walls where you didn’t have to see any of those gaining the benefits of this very supportive service.  They were out of sight and out of mind.  As soon as the apparently successful (we heard from one of the residents of the pilot program how vital it was to her survival) program grew to a space that could support over 25 vehicles in the fenced-in lot to the south of the municipal pool you were suddenly opposed. They were not locked in and you could see them through the chain link fence; no longer out of sight and certainly on your mind.

You are furious at those living in their campers and cars on Jefferson at your wetlands (wetlands that many of you are eager to bulldoze to make into a pristine park), yet, you have rejected every proposed alternative for safe parking in Westchester, Playa Del Rey and Playa Vista.

You point to the “A Bridge Home” in Venice as an abject failure, yet it regularly houses over 100 homeless who would otherwise be in your yards, in your parks or on your beaches. The beneficiaries of the Bridge Home have case workers, receive treatment and have a safe place to sleep for the night, something vital to their recovery.

You did not want them at your beaches, even the beaches that have abundant parking and are very far away from any residential communities.

You have shown no support for tiny homes in CD11. Every proposed site brought forward by the City, County or LAWA have been rejected by you.

You have lamented at the City, County and State spending over $550,000 / unit for fully supportive housing, crying foul that this is all part of a homelessness industrial complex. 

You frequently forget to mention that $550,000 / unit includes the security you so desperately call for and the mental health and substance abuse interventions that you so regularly claim are going ignored. Your refrain is that these programs do nothing to address the mental health/addiction aspect of this problem. But indeed, efforts such as project Roomkey and Homekey are paired with case workers AND health service providers.

AND YET NOW

You are rejecting a program that will take over 100 homeless off your streets, out of your parks, and frankly out of sight. You say that the community has not had a chance to give input into this project. Your voice has been heard. Heard very loudly in social media, your message is consistent. You have not provided a viable alternative to any of the efforts by the City or the County to address the homeless crisis. You just say “not here, not now, no way”. But let’s talk about the Extended Stay America hotel.

• The property would offer 133 dwellings at a cost of $52M which is roughly $390,000 / unit, much less than the $550,000 / unit the city would spend otherwise,
• the property is available NOW, to address the homeless crisis today (well, in June),
• it is not in a residential neighborhood; looking throughout our footprint, notwithstanding the gravel pit to the southeast of LAX, it seems to be one of the best sites for something like this, and
• it’s an enduring investment the City can sell back to developers when we’ve come out on the other end of this crisis.

YOU HAVE BEEN HEARD

BUT WE NEED ACTION NOW AND THIS IS ACTION

WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?