L.A. Homelessness Plan Hitting Speed Bumps

It's been nine months since the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a plan to address the city's homelessness issues and according to the first progress report from the city's administrator, Miguel Santana, realizing that plan is going to be difficult.

"Proposals for storage lockers and toilets for street dwellers are stalled, new shelter capacity is being added at a trickle, and the city bureaucracy moving more slowly than some council members had expected," reports Doug Smith of the Los Angeles Times. Councilmembers have expressed their exasperation with the slow movement of the project.

City officials do cite some successes: "The city received proposals from 49 developers to build permanent supportive housing on 12 city-owned parcels. Santana said a list of those selected will be announced next week," Smith tells us. There have also been updates to police training for interacting with homeless people with mental health issues and medical service people in the city's jails are now collecting homelessness, mental health and veteran status info. Also, the voters continue to show enthusiasm for homeless housing initiatives voting for measure NHH to authorize the city to create a bond measure to address the issue.

Sadly, none of this changes the fact that the physical improvements of adding beds and providing showers are moving slowly or not being provided at all.