General Meeting

Wednesday, April 24, 2019
9:30 - 11:30 am

Venue
 Torrance Memorial Medical Center
Hoffmann Conference Rm #1
3330 Lomita Blvd, Torrance
Topic: South Bay Hospital Challenges and Solutions with Patients Who Are Experiencing Homelessness
 Committee Meeting
Advocacy 
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
2:00-3:00 pm
Starbucks,1171 W Carson St, Torrance
Contact Paul Stansbury, 
PStans5@aol.com
Past Meeting Minutes
January 25, 2019 Homeless "Street Count" Completed!

We are thrilled to report that as of this writing, nearly all of the South Bay has been canvassed during the Greater Los Angeles Homeless "Street Count."  The few remaining tracts will be completed soon, with many pre-assigned to special outreach teams because of their hard-to-reach locations.  

This extensive coverage was made possible because of the overwhelming support we had from community members, homeless service provider staff, city staff, and local law enforcement.  We especially want to recognize the deployment site leads and hosts who were at the heart of this effort:
  • Inglewood: Cinder Eller, City of Inglewood & Police Department
  • Lennox: Nicole Powell, Mary Agnes Erlandson, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas' Office
  • Hawthorne: Victor Cooper, Von Norris, Calvary Presbyterian Church
  • Lawndale: Diane Parsley, City of Lawndale
  • Gardena: Raul Alarcon, City of Gardena Police Department
  • Hermosa Beach: Nico De Anda-Scaia, City of Hermosa Beach
  • Manhattan Beach: George Gabriel, Paul Stansbury, City of El Segundo Police Department, City of Manhattan Beach
  • Redondo Beach: Ronson Chu, Jeff Mendence, Fabian Saucedo, City of Redondo Beach & Police Department
  • Torrance: Domenica Megerdichian, Viet Hoang, Katie Wand, Nick Rasmussen, City of Torrance & Police Department
  • Carson: Amanda Valorosi, City of Carson, Sheriff Department
  • Palos Verdes: Jeannie Naughton, City of Palos Verdes Estates Police Department, City of Rolling Hills Estates
  • Harbor Gateway: Pamela Thornton, Harbor Gateway North Neighborhood Council, South Bay Club
  • Harbor City: Sharon Lee, Janae Oliver, Paul Lange, Kaiser Permanente South Bay
  • Wilmington: Rafael Garcia, Ben Alvarez, Providence Health & Services
  • San Pedro: Alexander Hall, Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, LAPD Harbor Division
  • Avalon: Rocio De La Cruz, City of Avalon
We also want to acknowledge "Team LAHSA," with Saira Cooper, Saba Karen Tekle, Sabrina De Santiago, and Clementina Verjan providing leadership for the 2019 Street Count.

Thank you again to all who were able to join us!
11-5-2018 Update

Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) recently released two videos to help education the general public on homelessness:
​
  • An overvew of "LA-HOP.org," its online reporting portal to assist people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County with outreach services. This 2-minute video explains the portal's purpose and how street outreach staff follow up on reports made through it. 
     
  • Debunking commonly held homelessness myths and promoting participation in the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. In this 10-minute video, LAHSA street outreach and program staff share reflections on the common myths they hear. 
Please consider sharing these widely.
10/29/2018 Update

An outbreak of typhus is affecting Los Angeles County. Please share the following resources to help education your organization and the people we serve about this disease:

Typhus FAQ in English 
Typhus FAQ in Spanish 
Typhus Poster in English
Typhus Poster in Spanish
7/28/2018 Update

On July 27th, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) released an update to its May 31st Homeless Count numbers. All of the Count numbers have been revised.  Included in this release are the city/neighborhood figures.  

Please note:
  • Service Planning Area (SPA) 8/South Bay's overall number went up by 37 persons, for a 0.9% increase.
     
  • Our coalition created our annual city/neighborhood information sheets. They are available on our website.
     
  • If you attended our General Meeting last week, please note we have tweaked some of these city level information sheets.  We will updated packets available at our August meeting.  If you would like them sooner, please contact us by replying to this email.
     
LAHSA posted the updated data on its website at this link.  It also has a dashboard where you can see each city's information at this link.  Please note that because of rounding differences, these LAHSA city level views might be slightly different than what is on our Coalition's information sheets.
  • County of Los Angeles: 52,765, -4.1% change
  • Los Angeles Continuum of Care: 49,955, -4.7% change
  • SPA 8 (without the City of Long Beach): 4,138, +0.9% change
  • SPA 8 (with the City of Long Beach): 6,011, +0.7% change

Note: This includes the Los Angeles CoC, Glendale CoC, Pasadena CoC, and Long Beach CoC
6/3/2018 Update

As you probably know, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) released the first set of 2018 Homeless Count (HC18) results last Thursday.  Homelessness is down 3.9% in the LA Continuum of Care (CoC) but also went up slightly in Service Planning Area (SPA) 8/South Bay.  We will analyze where the geographic changes occurred after LAHSA provides later this month the individual shelter, city, and census tract level data.  In the meantime, I want to share a few personal reflections about the Count:
  1. First and foremost, try not to fixate on any number or percentage. It is a Point-In-Time census, reflecting homelessness on one night in January.  We know that number fluctuates throughout the year.
  2. While the South Bay's number is higher this year, the rate of increase has slowed down significantly, from +12.0% (2016 to 2017) to +3.5% (2017 to 2018).  This year, LAHSA reported 9,322 people experienced homelessness for the first time throughout the LA CoC.  Despite this large inflow, I believe our modest increase is a testament to how well our Coordinated Entry System collaboratives are working, especially with the added outreach teams, regional outreach coordination, and the increased housing - all funded through Measure H. This is especially noteworthy because these funds became available in late Fall 2017, only a few months before the Count.
  3. Examining the demographic statistics provides a general overview into the contours of who is experiencing homelessness. It is helpful to recognize SPA 8's figures do not always trend in parallel with the LA CoC numbers.  A good example is looking at Veteran homelessness.  From 2016 to 2017, it rose 61% in the LA CoC but dropped -15% in SPA 8.  The following year it fell -19% in the LA CoC but rose 17% in the South Bay.  So from 2016 to 2018, the number remained level in SPA 8 while it went up in the LA CoC.  Examining both the demographic "prevalence" percentage and trends over the past few years instead of focusing on the last 12 months gives, I feel, a better perspective on the changes.
The following two tables provide historical raw data on the past four Counts (prior to 2015, the Count was held only in odd-numbered year). LAHSA breaks out additional demographic fields that can be found on its website.
Notes:
  • All the data is provided by Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
  • "Shelter" includes motel vouchers. The number of actual SPA 8 shelter beds has not changed significantly over these four years.
  • HUD required reporting "Gender: None of above" beginning in 2017
  • HUD expanded the definition of "Domestic Violence Experience" in 2017

​For you "data geeks," we hope these additional stats will keep you engaged until our June General Meeting when we'll review HC18 in much more detail. 
2/29/2018 Update

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) released its 2018 Report on Homeless Housing Gaps in the County of Los Angeles.  It will help inform policy makers as they determine Measure H funding allocations for specific homelessness populations and program types.

The 2018 Report is an update to the previous one published in 2016, and provides: 
  • Estimates on how many people experience homelessness over the course of the year
  • Incorporates analyzed data on the current system resources and how they are being used
  • Proposes a system with the recommended number and proportion of resources to functionally end homelessness in Los Angeles County. 
​9/24/2017 Update

Recently we sent out information in our "Announcements" email about the Hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego county, which to date has caused 16 fatalities and 444 confirmed cases.  You may have heard that last week 10 confirmed cases have been identified in LA County. Please help us spread the word about its prevention by using any of the following resources:
In addition, DPH is administering vaccinations at its Inglewood and Torrance locations. These are for both those experiencing homelessness and for service providers.
Homeless Count 2018 Results
Measure H 
Information on how the Measure H funding will be used is highlighted on the County's Homeless Initiative website
This website and other support are provided by a generous grant from 
Kaiser Permanente South Bay.