{"id":46748,"date":"2022-03-30T12:48:09","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T19:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=46748"},"modified":"2022-03-30T12:48:09","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T19:48:09","slug":"barger-and-stakeholders-respond-to-recommendations-from-blue-ribbon-commission-on-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=46748","title":{"rendered":"Barger and Stakeholders Respond to Recommendations from\u00a0Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and other stakeholders with prominent roles in the fight against homelessness in L.A. County reacted to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness\u2019 (BRCH) formal completion and adoption of its\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0on how homeless services should be governed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI commend the BRCH for its commitment to the very complex task of taking a hard look at how homeless organizations and systems are directed and coordinated,\u201d stated\u00a0Supervisor Kathryn Barger<\/strong>. \u201cI co-authored the motion that created the BRCH because what we\u2019re doing in L.A. County is failing. Our rising homeless count numbers prove that. The tents that line our streets prove that. Thousands of individuals in distress prove that. We have more than a hundred public, community-based, faith-based and non-profit organizations dedicated to providing services to people experiencing homelessness, and millions of Measure H dollars in our coffers to fund the work, but our region continues to fall short.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recommendations proposed are pragmatic and visionary. I\u2019m a strong supporter of giving all 88 cities in L.A. County a seat at the table. They deserve a fair opportunity to receive a greater share of Measure H dollars so they can fund housing solutions that work for their neighborhoods. I\u2019m a firm believer that to effectively manage a crisis, there must be a lead entity at the helm. We are in desperate need of a single and accountable County entity that is empowered to lead homeless services coordination and is resourced to do so. The devil\u2019s in the details, but the truth is, the County is one of the leading sources of homeless services and support, yet it lacks the organizational infrastructure needed to effectively manage and oversee the delivery of its funds and services. The BRCH\u2019s thoughtful and methodical review of multiple sources have come to this powerful conclusion. Thanks to its efforts, our County\u2019s Board of Supervisors can now deliberate and take action. We can\u2019t afford to miss this window of opportunity to create change and embrace reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reverend Andy Bales, Chief Executive Officer of Union Rescue Mission<\/strong>\u00a0and member of the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority (LAHSA) Commission, provided his reaction to the BRCH\u2019s recommendations and his perspective on the County, City of L.A. and LAHSA\u2019s current approach to providing homelessness services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe BRCH\u2019s recommendations are informative and sorely needed. I see firsthand the urgent crisis we\u2019re facing. Four people die each day of complications of homelessness in L.A. County. These are deaths mostly caused by overdose,\u201d\u00a0Bales\u00a0<\/strong>stated. \u201cWhile I have found LAHSA\u2019s executive staff and commissioners to be\u00a0 hard-working professionals deeply committed to doing their very best\u2026we need reform at a governance level now. LAHSA, the County and City of L.A. have hampered their effectiveness by limiting themselves to a narrow scope of homelessness solutions. What\u2019s sorely missing is the opportunity to creatively coordinate immediate triage care, mental health support, innovative affordable housing and the creation of recovery communities. That\u2019s how we\u2019ll be able to dig ourselves out of the mess we\u2019re currently witnessing and living in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI support County officials\u2026creatively reallocating Measure H funding to invest in coordinated life changing initiatives mentioned in the BRCH\u2019s recommendations. We cannot continue to slowly develop ultra-expensive units for a few, while tens of thousands of precious souls are left to die on our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marcel Rodarte, Executive Director of the California Contract Cities Association<\/strong>, who served as a member of the BRCH also weighed in with his perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an honor to serve as a representative for cities across L.A. County on the BRCH. Today\u2019s vote was the culmination of countless hours of hard work and research on how we can improve the delivery of services and resources to our homeless population,\u201d said\u00a0Rodarte<\/strong>. \u201cMaking funding available to cities with the flexibility they need to address homelessness is imperative. I cannot stress enough how much that is presently needed. Cities have housing solutions \u2013 these are thoughtful community-informed plans. Why shouldn\u2019t these be part of the equation that our region will support and fund to address homelessness?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need accountability of how homeless services are being provided and an effective way to evaluate them. It\u2019s a widely accepted management adage that \u2018what gets measured gets done\u2019, so let\u2019s put this practice into place so we can systematically evaluate what’s working, what isn\u2019t and how quickly we\u2019re delivering results\u00a0 in the fight against homelessness. I stand by the unanimous BRCH recommendations issued today to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.\u00a0 They are a testament to the widely agreed upon need to adjust our current approach to this ongoing epidemic. The recommendations provide a path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barger, Bales and Rodarte are available today for media interviews. Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to view their contact information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46749,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46748\/revisions\/46749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}