City of West Hollywood: Consistent with a Rise in Homelessness across the Region, City Sees a Rise in Homelessness, Measured in 2019 LAHSA Count

City Collaborates with Agencies and Community Organizations to Connect People to Resources, Services, Shelter and Housing

Post Date: July 30, 2019 8:58 AM

The City of West Hollywood is committed to providing comprehensive assistance to people experiencing homelessness in the City. The City participates in the annual Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s (LAHSA) homeless count in an effort to help improve the lives of people experiencing homelessness across the Greater Los Angeles area.

LAHSA has published official results from its 2019 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which took place in West Hollywood on Thursday, January 31, 2019. The point-in-time data indicates that the LAHSA total count for West Hollywood is 131, an increase from 100 in 2018 and 105 in 2017. Importantly, LAHSA applies a SPA-level multiplier (Service Planning Area) to the raw data in order to standardize the estimates of people living in vehicles, makeshift shelters, and tents. For example, a baseline number of 6 is then calculated with a statistical multiplier to total 8.5. Such multipliers/conversion factors are used to estimate the total LAHSA count across the region, and those formulas change year over year.

West Hollywood’s LAHSA count results factored with multipliers/conversion factors are as follows: Total homeless population – 131; Persons on the street – 111; Persons in cars – 8.5; Persons in vans – 1.7; Persons in RV/campers – 1.9; Persons in makeshift shelters – 5.6; and Persons in tents – 2.6.

The City of West Hollywood’s Homeless Initiative addresses homelessness with a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency, collaborative response. The Homeless Initiative works in close partnership with the City’s contracted and collaborative nonprofit social services providers, the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station, and Los Angeles County agencies to address homelessness. This includes direct street outreach services to homeless community members that offer shelter, substance abuse treatment, health care, mental health services, housing opportunities, and more.

The outreach teams also provide assistance such as food and hygiene kits, as well as blankets, socks, and other emergency supplies.

During the past three years, the City of West Hollywood’s Homeless Initiative has achieved positive measureable results in collaboration with grant-funded community partners, including the following highlights:

•  Ascencia has housed 50 people who were formerly homeless in West Hollywood and Step Up On Second has housed 28 individuals, for a total of 78 people successfully placed into permanent housing. This includes chronically homeless community members who are impacted by severe and persistent mental illness, which make the barriers and challenges in bringing people into service and housing even greater;

•  The LA LGBT Center’s Youth Center has provided emergency shelter and transitional living services for West Hollywood-affiliated youth, including 9,255 bed nights for 87 unduplicated youth;

•  A total of 381 West Hollywood residents accessed City of West Hollywood rental assistance programs through NCJW/LA and the Alliance for Housing & Healing, enabling them to remain in their rental housing in West Hollywood and preventing them from falling into homelessness;

•  Tarzana Treatment Center and Safe Refuge provided detox and residential treatment to at least 22 unduplicated West Hollywood community members who were homeless and McIntyre House’sassisted 35 West Hollywood clients with housing and treatment of which 18 had become homeless due to their substance abuse; and

•  Housing Works provided housing retention services and support to 30 individuals who were formerly homeless in West Hollywood who have been housed through the City’s allocated Continuum of Care vouchers through the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (HACoLA) or through the Housing Authority of City of Los Angeles (HACLA).

The City of West Hollywood’s Homeless Initiative provides on-site outreach and services at West Hollywood Library during weekdays. Outreach is designed for people in the community who are homeless and is coordinated by representatives from direct service nonprofit organizations. The program is a strategic collaboration of the City of West Hollywood, the County of Los Angeles Public Library, and the City’s contracted social services provider organizations.

A three-minute Public Service Announcement (PSA) about the City of West Hollywood’s Homeless Initiative is available on the City’s WeHoTV YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/JTa4e9R8-SI.

If you are concerned about a community member who is homeless, call the West Hollywood Homeless Initiative Concern Line at (323) 848-6590. If your concern requires time-sensitive assistance during nights or weekends, please call the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station at (310) 855-8850. For additional information, please visit www.weho.org/homeless.

For additional information about the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s (LAHSA) annual homeless count please contact Corri Planck, the City of West Hollywood’s Strategic Initiatives Manager, at (323) 848-6430 or at cplanck@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496. For up-to-date news and events, follow the City of West Hollywood on social media @WeHoCity and sign up for news updates at www.weho.org/email.