News
Nov 11
Feds extend funding through spring to help L.A. house homeless people in hotels
Throughout the pandemic, the city and county of Los Angeles have rented thousands of hotel rooms for homeless people at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
This massive effort was partially made possible by the federal government’s willingness to reimburse local governments for each dollar they spent renting the rooms and repurposing hotels into temporary housing.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s reimbursement of ...
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Nov 1
L.A. county clears homeless encampment outside VA campus; vets offered shelter inside
A bulldozer roared outside GemBob Brookhyser’s tent Monday morning as he yanked on an extension cord caught in a tangle of his belongings. Half a dozen veterans in the Veterans Row homeless encampment along San Vicente Boulevard scrambled to get their possessions into bins and onto moving vans driven by volunteers.
Tensions were high on moving day at the encampment, which ...
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Oct 18
‘Gimme Shelter’: California’s new housing police
Every eight years, cities across California have to plan for housing so that there’s enough room for people to live here. And we’re in the thick of that process right now. Even at a time when growth is slowing, the state’s hot economy and overcrowded living situations are pushing communities to have to set aside a lot of land for ...
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Sep 28
A new, ‘first-class’ high-rise will house homeless people on L.A.’s skid row
Construction kicked off Tuesday on a 19-story homeless housing project designed to reshape a corner of skid row in the image of more well-to-do environs.
The 278-unit Weingart Tower will replace a parking lot at 555 S. Crocker St., around the corner from the Weingart Center, the project’s developer in collaboration with affordable housing developer Chelsea Investment Corp. The building is ...
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Sep 20
Business leader Jessica Lall joins L.A. mayor’s race, vowing to take on homelessness
The head of a downtown-based business group entered the race for Los Angeles mayor on Monday, making the fight against homelessness the central message of her campaign.
Jessica Lall, president and chief executive of the Central City Assn., promised to build more housing for those experiencing mental health crises, change zoning rules to allow for the construction of more affordable housing ...
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Sep 3
Editorial: No homeless people should be shooed off a sidewalk before they are offered housing
When the city of Los Angeles passed a sweeping anti-camping ordinance this summer, the goal was to clear sidewalks of homeless encampments ballooning across the city. But City Council members also vowed to put in place an official street engagement strategy laying out how the city will reach out to people on sidewalks with offers of shelter or other temporary ...
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Aug 31
New rent relief is on the way for L.A. tenants and landlords. Here’s how to apply
September 1. is a crucial day for California residents who have fallen behind on their rent because of the pandemic. That’s when the state’s lengthy moratorium on evictions will start to expire, allowing landlords to seek the removal of tenants who have failed to pay what they owe.
Tenants will have to meet either of two conditions to avoid being tossed ...
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Aug 25
California housing department mismanaged COVID-19 funds for the homeless, audit says
SACRAMENTO — The California Department of Housing and Community Development did not properly distribute federal relief funds meant to help homeless residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the mismanagement was so prolonged that local organizations might lose the money because of missed deadlines, auditors said Tuesday.
After receiving $316 million under the federal CARES Act to reduce the effect of COVID-19 on unhoused ...
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Aug 5
Newsom, in recall fight, says it’s ‘not acceptable’ for homeless to camp on streets
STOCKTON — Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed strong support Thursday for increased efforts around California to remove large homeless encampments, calling them unacceptable and saying the state will need more federal help to create additional housing and expand services for homeless people.
Newsom’s comments come at a time of growing alarm over the homelessness crisis, which has become a focus of criticism by Republican ...
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Jul 27
Sheriff Villanueva discusses his public power struggles, homelessness and more
It turned out that Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva wanted to talk about a whole lot more than homelessness.
We were about an hour into our 90-minute conversation last week, and (as I wrote about in my Sunday column) he’d talked about encampments and lawlessness, his disdain for many of his fellow public officials, his contempt for the Los Angeles ...
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