The Los Angeles Post

HOMELESSNESS EMERGENCY: BOARD ADOPTS A REGIONAL EMERGENCY CENTRALIZED RESPONSE CENTER FOR HOMELESSNESS

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Los Angeles, CA (September 24, 2024) – At today’s meeting, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion establishing an Emergency Centralized Response Center (ECRC) to further accelerate homelessness solutions across Los Angeles County. The motion was authored by Supervisors Lindsey P. Horvath and Kathryn Barger who brought forward the County’s emergency declaration on homelessness in January 2023.

Since the County and City of Los Angeles both declared emergencies on homelessness, significant strides have been made to coordinate and align strategies. The Emergency Centralized Response Center builds on this progress and aims to create a centralized physical clearinghouse made up of County and City staff, as well as the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to optimize solutions for our unhoused community.

“Los Angeles County is moving with urgency to end the humanitarian crisis of homelessness across our communities by focusing on what works under our emergency declaration,” said Chair Lindsey P. Horvath. “This motion builds on unprecedented partnership with the City of Los Angeles and LAHSA to create a real-time resource deployment system—an Emergency Centralized Response Center. Much like an emergency services dispatch center deploys fire or law enforcement services, this center will expedite shelter, services, and care to our unhoused neighbors. Emergencies require new ways of working to accelerate results and the Emergency Centralized Response Center offers a new model to do just that.”

“Los Angeles County needs to continue tackling our homelessness crisis like the emergency that it truly is,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “Establishing an Emergency Centralized Response Center takes a page out of emergency management best practices by focusing on strengthening coordination and communication. Those two elements will help ensure the County is doing its part and working with our 88 cities to coordinate outreach to homeless populations, resolve encampments resolutions, improve shelter occupancy and access to support services. This is lifesaving work.”

Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman attended the meeting and spoke in support of the ECRC and continued County-City alignment.

“We know that homelessness does not recognize jurisdictional boundaries and that If we are to make meaningful progress toward solving this crisis, it is imperative that we work across the boundaries between the departments and jurisdictions tasked with addressing this issue,” said LA City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who serves as Vice Chair of the LA County Executive Committee for Regional Homeless Alignment. “I am hopeful that by establishing an Emergency Centralized Response Center we will be able to expand our access to data, increase both accountability and coordination, and ensure that every dollar we are spending as a city – and by extension we as a region – is going further. This kind of communication is critical to more effectively serve our unhoused residents and utilize our regional alignment as we work toward our collective goal of ending homelessness.”

The motion calls for the CEO to lead an effort to operationalize the ECRC, including identifying physical space where it will be housed; garnering the participation of the City of Los Angeles and other critical stakeholders; and considering data requirements. A report back in 60 days will detail the action steps to realize an ECRC under the County’s homelessness emergency.