A man in his 50s, maybe 60s, sits on a single layer of cardboard; his feet are bare, the skin cracked, ashen by exposure. A woman trudges by towing, among other items, a sleeping bag in a grocery cart; she was in a shelter last night but is not sure if she will be so fortunate this evening. She walks past a couple sleeping in a car. It serves as the couple’s home today, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future; the couple is considered lucky – at least they have a roof.
In the city and county of Los Angeles, this heart-wrenching scene of homelessness is a reality for many: the veteran overwhelmed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and caught in the complex and inefficient bureaucracy of the Veteran’s Administration; the man or woman released from jail and relegated to what law scholar Michelle Alexander refers to as “second-class citizenry”; and the young adult who has just exited foster care, only to face the fact that nearly 50 percent of those aging out of the foster-system are homeless within six months.
This situation is dire. As it stands, the homeless population in Los Angeles County consists of nearly 47,000 men, women and youths; 28,000 of them reside in the city of Los Angeles. On top of this, nearly 250,000 households sit on the brink of homelessness, paying 90 percent or more of their income on rent. Indeed, we are in the midst of a homelessness crisis. However, there is a solution.
On Nov. 8, we at UCLA have the opportunity to be part of that solution by voting “yes” on Proposition HHH.
Proposition HHH is a city bond measure that, if approved by 75 percent of Los Angeles voters, would raise $1.2 billion to fund permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless – defined as those who have at least one disability, whether mental or physical, and who have been homeless for over a year. Included with this housing are supportive services that chronically homeless people need to thrive in housing, like case management as well as mental and physical health services.
In conjunction with this, Proposition HHH would use about 20 percent of its revenue to subsidize housing for low-income tenants. At a time when rents are increasing while renter incomes are decreasing, it is crucial to provide more affordable housing to stem the flow of more Angelenos into homelessness.
The bond would be funded through property taxes, with roughly $10 levied for every $100,000 in assessed property value. For a median-priced home valued at $341,000, the cost would be $32.87 per year or a total of $953.23 over 29 years. And this cost amounts to a powerful investment. Not only will housing our homeless Angelenos reduce the strain on city and county services like police, courts, emergency rooms, hospitals, ambulances and others, it will also leverage three times as much state and federal funding that will match our local investment.
A ‘Yes’ vote also reverses a history of Los Angeles City policy that has shamefully used policing to leaf-blow homeless people into other neighborhoods, serving to perpetuate and entrench homelessness. Such policies appease wealthy property owners while neglecting long-term solutions to homelessness. We should inform our policy with what we now know works: permanent supportive housing.
Proposition HHH is as bold in its scope as it is vital for the thousands who are chronically homeless in Los Angeles. As Bruins, we are also optimists – the bolder a plan, the better. We deem possible what is dubbed impossible and prove the skeptics wrong. Can we not extend the same optimism that fueled an effort to register 10,109 students to vote to our fellow Angelenos who need it the most? Indeed, we can and must join Mayor Eric Garcetti and a host of Los Angeles organizations as they envision and attempt to create a future in which homelessness is rare and short-lived; we must vote yes on Proposition HHH.
Ostwari is a second-year economics and political science student, and an intern with the Inner City Law Center.
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