Housing The Most Vulnerable

Homeless advocates are working in Los Angeles to identify the city's most vulnerable homeless people on Skid Row. With this list the county intends to take a piecemeal approach to housing the city's homeless.

1 minute read

December 20, 2007, 12:00 PM PST

By Nate Berg


"Hidden behind L.A.'s facade of glitz and glamour is one of the worst homeless problems in the country. The surveys are part of the county's most recent attempt to address the issue."

"'Project 50' is oriented around combating chronic homelessness by identifying the 50 people on the streets who are the most vulnerable and then moving them into apartments."

"L.A. County brought Kanis and her team to Skid Row to find the people that would never find them and their services. When Common Ground applied the same technique to New York's Times Square, they found that the number of street homelessness plummeted by 87 percent in two years."

"Early in the morning, however, half-asleep amid scurrying rats, piles of human waste and trash, not everyone is eager to be questioned by strangers claiming humanitarian intentions. It's difficult to see, as many of the street lights have been intentionally broken to make drug transactions easier. Some inhabitants are just coming down from crack highs. Others are resistant to talk because they've chosen Skid Row as home in order to disappear - not be included in some public list."

Wednesday, December 19, 2007 in NPR

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