To help people experiencing homelessness find sustainable, permanent housing solutions, the Midtown Los Angeles Homeless Coalition held a summit on July 9 to launch its 100-day goals and recruit volunteers and supporters.

The Mid-City West Community Council conducted a count in January to determine the number of homeless people living in the area. (photo by Jonathan Van Dyke)

The effort to curb the rise in chronic homelessness started in January when 50 volunteers gathered to count the homeless population in the Mid-City West Community Council area — an effort that was a part of the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority’s plan to use volunteers to count homeless people in individual neighborhoods.

“The count showed us that homelessness is a countywide issue,” coalition leader Scott Epstein said. “It’s everywhere. I see this on a daily basis. I think the need is pretty clear.”

The counts differentiate circumstances by specifying between sheltered and unsheltered homeless, as well as individuals on the street, in vehicles and in encampments or tents. The coalition identified 1,087 homeless people in Midtown, including 243 sheltered and 844 unsheltered individuals. The Midtown area boundaries are defined by the Santa Monica (10) Freeway to the south, roughly La Cienega Boulevard to the west, roughly Santa Monica Boulevard to the north, and Western Avenue to the east.

Shortly after the count in January, Epstein said the coalition started examining solutions for the homeless in the area.

“The appetite for doing more came after the count in January,” Epstein said. “My observation has been people really recognize this as a need that needs local buy-in.”

At the summit, coalition leaders Antquan Washington and Epstein explained the groups’s 100-day goals.

By Oct. 17, the coalition hopes to have representation of at least 30 local organizations and stakeholders, train 50 volunteers to conduct at least 75 surveys of homeless adults in the area during monthly outreach events, assist 30 chronically homeless individuals in getting documents and completing tasks to be eligible for housing, have 10 homeless people in the area matched to housing units and to raise $100,000 to pay for move-in costs and navigation team employment.

“The idea is to be serious about achieving real goals,” Epstein said. “We have to be serious about keeping ourselves accountable. And it doesn’t mean we’re going to stop [at 100 days].”

The coalition will use the Coordinated Entry System (CES) to try to achieve the 100-day goals. CES, utilized under United Way’s Home For Good initiative, is a survey program that helps define different resources that are needed to give help that is geared toward each homeless individual’s specific situation. It helps make sure a person experiencing homelessness is not prevented from receiving housing available to them, Washington explained.

In the past, housing has been influenced by caseworkers and the legwork they have been able to do on their own. But many people have been overlooked in that process, Washington said. Just providing housing doesn’t always help because people experience homelessness for different reasons and have specific issues such as substance abuse, Washington added. Others, for example, might need help with mental or physical help, so there is no one answer to solve homelessness. CES provides catered help, bringing the services together that each case needs.

Washington described CES as providing “triage protocol,” equating the situations to an emergency room, where each person that walks in is treated for different needs. This plan is more effective than the usual waiting list protocol that homeless people might go through, where someone might, for example, get housing but still needs other resources to stay off the streets.

“CES allows information from each case to be taken to care and cater to those needs in the best way,” Washington said. “Not just to rush them into housing when they can’t walk up the steps, or place someone in a scattered site 10 miles away from where they’re accustomed to operating. Some services need to be geared toward veterans; some need to be geared toward families. CES is a centralized place to identify all of that. It identifies roadblocks in the housing process and pairs them with supportive services and makes sure you’re aware of all the needs of people experiencing homelessness.”

The first outreach day is Aug.1, and efforts will continue on the first Saturday of the next three months. Volunteers will canvass areas to build relationships with homeless people and ask them to participate in CES to start transitioning the homeless community off the streets.

Washington said the coalition is still looking for volunteers to go into the field. People can also help by making things like hygiene kits with a bottle of water. At the launch of the 100-day goals on July 9, community members signed up to help with the group’s leadership, outreach, housing, fundraising and advocacy. The coalition will help train volunteers in regards to the assessment process, safety protocols and what to say when canvassing.

CES isn’t a guaranteed solution, Washington warned. He stressed that everyone in the survey isn’t guaranteed housing right away, and that the coalition is facing some challenges, such as a lack of housing availability. The list of surveyed homeless adults will grow, he said, but that won’t necessarily mean more housing will be available to accommodate the growth.

“We will get a list of 75 assessments,” he said. “We will get to a point where we will get hundreds. Maybe we’ll get to the thousand number mark. Then there will be a part where there isn’t enough housing for that number.”

Washington said other challenges include legislation, landlords not accepting a person who needs housing and a lack of homeless service agencies.

“Bringing in agencies for that purpose, as well as getting the community to realize it’s not a problem we can bill out,” Washington said. “In the past, we would [bill it out or pay money] and turn a blind eye to the experience of homelessness. It’s going to take our community as a whole until the homelessness rise is under control. CES isn’t a housing program. It’s an initiative that creates the ability for all those people to get housing. It’s an empty initiative without people helping, pouring in time, money and effort. Otherwise it’s a really cool idea with no legs.”

Epstein agreed that there are hurdles to overcome.

“We don’t have a lot of infrastructure in place in the area right now,” he said. “We don’t have social service providers right in Midtown that their mission is housing the homeless. I don’t want anybody to think this is going to be easy. It’s not. It’s a very labor-intensive process.”