Solving L.A.’s homeless crisis requires tackling the problem head on with a three-pronged approach. Step one: we must build homeless shelters at a faster rate and a lesser cost. Step two: we must simultaneously prevent renters who are at-risk of losing their residence due to the inability to pay increasing rental costs from becoming homeless. Step three: we must aid in keeping mom-and-pop housing providers who’ve invested their retirement and lifesavings from losing their rental properties.
We need to immediately begin to build 30,000 transitional and permanent, supportive housing units cheaper and at a faster pace. This can be done by using manufactured housing techniques, by converting cargo containers and also by repurposing industrial buildings for homeless shelters.
The federal government approved $46 billion for COVID-19 related Emergency Rental Assistance Programs. These funds are to be used to help the nation’s most vulnerable residents pay their rent and to keep landlords from losing their investments.
After seven months of fumbling and bungling the federal COVID-19 emergency rental assistance program, the Los Angeles City Council essentially washed their hands of it. They instructed the city’s housing department to relinquish its oversight responsibility of this program to the state of California. L.A.’s top officials turned over more than $250 million that the city had been allocated for the rental assistance fund to the “Housing Is Key” program, which is run by California state government. As of Jan. 4, more than 123,000 households in Los Angeles applied for a portion of these funds, yet by this date only roughly 29,000 households had received assistance.
According to the Housing Is Key website, the total amount of funds requested by Angelenos from the emergency rental assistance program exceeds $2 billion ($500 million had been allocated for use by Los Angeles residents). This means there is a shortfall of more than $1.5 billion in the emergency rental assistance program in relation to the amount that has been requested. If Los Angeles is not successful in gaining approval of an additional $1.5 billion for the rental assistance fund, the homeless population in Los Angeles will increase dramatically, forcing thousands of COVID affected renters to live and die on the streets.
Here’s the solution: Call and email your member of Congress and tell them to go back to Washington, D.C. and fight for more rental assistance funds. Specifically ask them to:
Fight for approval of legislation to authorize a minimum of $1.5 billion of emergency rental assistance funds for the city of Los Angeles.
Instruct the U.S. Treasury Department to take unused emergency rental assistance funds and reallocate those funds to Los Angeles.
Who’ll be left behind?
Many Angelenos who are most negatively impacted by COVID-19 are essential workers. These are folks who work in restaurants and hotels, workers who cut our lawns and clean our homes and children’s schools. Data from California’s Housing Is Key website shows that most renters who are requesting COVID-19 rental assistance have a household income of $35,000 to $50,000.
Los Angeles has an 18-member Congressional delegation made up of Democrats and Republicans. It’s time for the politicians to put aside their differences and work together to fight for low- and moderate-income renters and mom-and-pop housing providers.
Rental housing owned by small mom-and-pop providers has historically been a reliable source of affordable housing for the workforce. Small housing providers know their tenants and are working with them to keep a roof over their heads during these difficult times. If our mom-and-pop housing providers lose their buildings, vulture capitalist firms will swoop in, buy these properties for a pittance, gentrify the neighborhoods and drive rental prices up further. We saw this movie before in the economic crisis of 2008 – but this time, we can prevent a widespread loss of property from occurring.
Waiting is not an option for families who are on the short side of funding. Neither is waiting an option for our mom-and-pop workforce housing providers. Anything short of the L.A. Congressional delegation bringing home $1.5 billion in additional funds could result in thousands of at-risk Angelenos being pushed out of their apartments and houses and forced to live on the sidewalks and streets of Los Angeles.
L.A. needs leader
The renters and landlords who have been most keenly affected by economic challenges presented by COVID are in dire need of help now.
Los Angeles is in need of a leader who can coordinate and manage multiple tasks at the same time. We need a leader who has extensive experience as a housing advocate who has successfully worked with the public, private and nonprofit sectors as well as the faith community. We need a leader who is not only adept at solving complex housing problems, but who also gets things done. I believe I am this leader; I have vision and I am ready to offer the leadership needed to truly help the people of this great city. Let’s get to work.
Mel Wilson is a San Fernando Valley based workforce housing advocate, former Metro Board member and candidate for LA Mayor.