The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday took steps to bolster its jail in-reach programs and take necessary steps to ensure formerly incarcerated individuals do not fall into homelessness.
Council members voted 13-0 to approve a series of reports on next steps in the effort. Council members Imelda Padilla and Kevin de Leon were absent during the vote.
The council instructed the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, in collaboration with the L.A. Police Department and several other groups, to prepare a report on the status of jail in-reach programs. It will also examine the level of engagement and service connection with people experiencing homelessness as they move through the justice and jail/prison systems, and the degree in which law enforcement and homeless services coordinate when people experiencing homelessness exit jails.
The LAPD will be tasked with providing a second report examining annual data since 2018 surrounding the number of homeless people in the department’s custody, the number of arrests and breakdown of crimes, as well as the consequences. That data is expected to be released annually.
Additionally, the city attorney’s office will examine annual statistics since 2018 on the number of people experiencing homelessness served and the metrics used for the Homeless Engagement and Response Team (HEART); Clean Slate; LA Diversion, Outreach and Opportunities for Recovery; and Project Lead — programs aimed to support the homeless.
For example, the HEART program is a criminal record-clearing program for people who are either unhoused or at risk of experiencing homelessness. It can help participants resolve L.A. County infraction tickets for minor violations, such as jaywalking, having an open container or having expired car registration tags.
On the other hand, LA DOOR is described as a “preventative approach” to addiction that works with people who are a high-risk of returning to the city attorney’s office on a new misdemeanor offense related to substance use, mental illness or homelessness, according to the city attorney’s office’s website.
The goal will be to use the city attorney’s report to guide necessary changes that will increase engagement in this demographic toward community-based solutions and programs.
LAHSA and the city’s Housing Department will also examine how criminal background requirements impact individuals as they seek and apply for housing, and funding opportunities for housing developments.
Council members Eunisses Hernandez and Katy Yaroslavsky introduced a motion in December 2023 that initiated the work approved Tuesday.
The motion states that there are numerous causes to the region’s homelessness crisis, but an “under-recognized” component is the relationship between carceral systems and homelessness.
As of July 1, 2023, about 26% of the nearly 14,000 Angelenos held in custody by the county’s Sheriff’s Department were unhoused prior to their detention, and about 36% of incarcerated women lacked stable housing prior to being sent to prison, according to the motion.
“While the city of Los Angeles has no formal control over the relevant county and state agencies that oversee sentencing, incarceration, or re-entry services, there is still a major role that it can play…,” according to the motion.