H4WRD Great Reads for June/July '24

Hollywood 4WRD is launching our new Great Reads blog with a content-rich inaugural edition, due to a particularly newsworthy last two months. We're kicking it off with some great reading (and viewing!) material covering a range of current topics, including:

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• The recently released 2024 PIT Count Results from LAHSA
• The Supreme Court's Grants Pass decision
• Additional timely/relevant news of the month

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2024 Point-In-Time Homeless Count Results

The resources below emerged from July's first H4WRD Member Meeting, which featured Brian Kohan (Director of SELAH's Hollywood program, Lead Engineer at JPL, and H4WRD's newest Board Member!) offering his informed analysis of the just-released 2024 PIT Count Results from LAHSA:

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• CLICK HERE for the PPT/overview shared with H4WRD membership by Brian Kohan (Director of SELAH's Hollywood program, Lead Engineer at JPL, and H4WRD's newest Board Member!)‍
• CLICK HERE to watch video of Brian's presentation. We typically don't share these internal videos, but are making an exception because of the sizable interest in this subject matter!

A range of additional perspectives on LAHSA's 2024 Homeless Count Results:

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• Twitter/X for CD 4: CD 4 Shares Local Count Results
  • ‍Summary: Nithya Raman, Councilmember for LA's 4th District, shared the recent Count results as collected and interpreted by her team. "The lessons are clear: when you create places for people to live, you have fewer people on the street."
• CIty of Los Angeles, Mayor's Office: Change in LA: Homelessness Down in City of LA for First Time in Years Following Urgent Action Taken by Mayor Bass and Partners
  • ‍Summary: The press release from the Mayor's office touted a "17% Increase in unhoused people moved Inside", and street homelessness being brought down at an "unprecedented rate."
• LA Times: For the first time since 2018, homeless count finds fewer people living on L.A. streets
  • ‍Summary: As Brian pointed out in the H4WRD member meeting, the slug for this article used the language "remained flat" to describe the recent results. Nevertheless, the article noted that the results "appeared to show the effects of city and county programs to clear out encampments by moving people from tents, makeshift shelters and vehicles into hotels, motels and other forms of temporary housing."
• NY Times: Los Angeles Homeless Count Drops for the First Time in 6 Years
  • ‍Summary: As did its LA counterpart, the NY Times reported that the recent decrease in the homeless count was being viewed as validation of recent homelessness reduction efforts, and "a sign of progress for Mayor Karen Bass, who started an aggressive new program to move people off the streets in 2022."
• LAist: LA Officials tried to track encampment clearings citywide. LAist found major errors in that data
  • ‍Summary: LAist offers readers an analysis of data provided by LAHSA to the City Council with a detailed public listing of each encampment operation for Inside Safe. LAist found problems with the data which they reported to LAHSA, "problems that hadn't previously been acknowledged publicly."

Grants Pass Supreme Court Decision

Three perspectives on the Supreme Court's recent ruling in the Grant's Pass v. Johnson case, which you can read about further in H4WRD's 2024 FAQ:

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• NY Times: Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Sleeping Outdoors in Homelessness Case
  • ‍Summary: In her reporting on the case, Times' journalist Abby VanSickle noted that the Court's ruling would likely have "broad ramifications for how cities across the country respond to homelessness."
• LA Daily News: Supreme Court ruling may push more homeless into L.A., Mayor Karen Bass says
  • ‍Summary: While leaders in Orange County and Long Beach (not to mention in the California governor's mansion) supported the Court's decision, Mayor Bass condemned the decision, saying it will result "in the criminalization of people experiencing homelessness and shuffle people from community to community without addressing the overall crisis."
• LA Alliance for Human Rights: LA Alliance Encouraged by Supreme Court Decision Paves Way for Return to Safe Public Spaces
  • ‍Summary: In a statement released in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision, the LA Alliance noted that "Enforcement should always be a last resort, but it must be an option on the table. Cities no longer have an excuse to tolerate the most egregious of issues like open-air drug use and human trafficking."

Additional Great Reads for June/July '24

• LA Daily News: Half-cent sales tax to tackle homelessness in LA County qualifies for ballot Summary: Proponents of the measure say money will help prevent and reduce homelessness.
• LA Times: Pushing to close the funding lag that drains millions from homeless services Summary: In response to a systemic problem putting undue strain on LA's homeless providers, H4WRD member Justin Szlasa, director of homeless initiatives for Future Communities, is establishing a bridge financing fund intended to serve as "a targeted solution to get money directly into the hands" of providers in need.
• LA Times: Home prices are rising nearly everywhere. Not in Hollywood Summary: Featuring H4WRD's Executive Director, Brittney Weissman, weighing in on the issue, the piece examines the potential reasons Hollywood home prices are lagging behind other areas of LA.  
• NY Times: For an Older Homeless Population, a New Type of Care Summary: Programs are sprouting across the country to provide nursing home and rehabilitation services to homeless people who would otherwise shuttle between hospitals and the street
• LAist: California's Big Plan To Get Help For People With Serious Mental Illness Is Off To A Slow Start Summary: H4WRD's Brittney Weissman is featured again in this piece looking at the slower than expected rollout of LA's new Care Court program.

Hollywood 4WRD offers "Great Reads" in an effort to expand our community's awareness about the complicated issues surrounding homelessness. Enjoyed any good books, articles or podcasts lately? Please contact us if you have a 'great read' recommendation to add to our growing collection.

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PLEASE NOTE: The resources and content in Great Reads are offered for educational purposes only, and do not represent an endorsement by Hollywood 4WRD.