The Los Angeles City Council declaring the week of Jan. 23 Homeless Count Week is another sign the city is serious about tackling the problem, an advocate for the homeless said Thursday.
“Addressing homelessness has never been a bigger priority for the city,” Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority spokeswoman Naomi Goldman said.
LAHSA is in the final preparation for the annual Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, when thousands of volunteers will fan out over the county from Jan. 24 to Jan. 26 in a bid to get an accurate picture of the homeless situation.
The count is required to be done every two years by the federal government, but LAHSA went to an annual count last year and found that the homeless population increased 5.7 percent from 2015 to reach 46,874.
The Tuesday resolution passed by the council was ceremonial and meant for promotion, Goldman pointed to recent moves by city leaders and voters that “makes it clear that there is enormous public and political will to really address this and create long term solutions.”
In February 2016, the City Council passed the Comprehensive Homelessness Strategy resolution that committed up to $1.85 billion for homeless initiatives over 10 years, and in November city voters passed Proposition HHH, a $1.2 billion bond measure to fund permanent housing for the homeless.
“The issue of homelessness is a top priority across the board for city leaders, so we are seeing that and things that are getting passed by voters as well in terms of allocating more resources,” Goldman said. “So I think moving forward with that public and political will we hope we are going to see some very positive results from those investments.”
Last year over 7,500 volunteers helped with the homeless count. Anyone interested in participating can go to www.theycountwillyou.org.
–City News Service