Hey Church Family,
Thanks to those who submitted a petition or public comment last week for the new housing plan for LA City. The plan passed the PLUM committee (Planning and Land Use) unanimously, so it will be moving to the full council in the coming weeks! Be on the lookout for an email to send public comment again when the bill goes before the full council!
Now onto a new item for this week:
Homelessness: Last month, the LA city council and city attorney authored a motion that would have allowed the city to remove homeless camps under freeways and near homeless shelters. The council delayed the vote on the initial motion due to opposition, and they are revisiting the topic tomorrow at 10 am
Like all issues, there are two sides to the argument. On the one hand, proponents of the measure say that it will improve the quality of life in communities that build homeless shelters and make it more palatable for the city to build more shelter. One of the big reasons many neighborhoods in LA have opposed shelters is that they worry about the homeless camping on the streets around the shelters. However, opponents point out that LA City still has a much larger homeless population (66,000 before COVID and possibly larger now) than new housing or shelter beds available. Homeless deaths recorded by the city are up by 36% (1,141 deaths in the first 10 months of this year) due to pandemic and other risks homeless residents are exposed to.
I (Thomas) count myself among the opponents of this bill, and almost all of the housing and homelessness advocates I trust also oppose it. The argument is that it is not fair to folks who have been forced onto the street to punish them when the city has done such a poor job building the housing and shelters needed for them. Until you solve the problem at the center of the crisis by building enough housing (or at the least, building enough habitable shelters to house our homeless population), you cannot expect to see positive results by punishing and arresting folks who are on the streets.
Many different organizations are mobilizing in response to this, so you can do two things to participate in the efforts:
You can sign a petition in opposition here.
You can also give a written public comment at this link (Council file #20-1376 in case you need it). For a template, reference this form letter by Everyone In
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns! I understand that this is an issue we as a church will want to keep dialoguing about going forward!
Have a great and safe Thanksgiving!
Thomas