Responding to the needs of a South Bay homeless population estimated at over 3,000 people, Los Angeles County Supervisors Don Knabe and Mark Ridley-Thomas are proposing a funding plan with the goal of providing homeless individuals with interim residential options, permanent housing and supportive services.
According to the 2015 Homeless Count, there are approximately 3,006 people homeless in the 16 cities in the South Bay region. The vast majority of these individuals are single adults, and most of them are considered chronically homeless. Approximately 19 percent of the South Bay’s homeless are veterans, which is a 58 percent increase since the previous Homeless Count in 2013.
Responding to the area’s homeless crisis, the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (COG) requested a solution-oriented partnership between the County and the non-profit group Persons Assisting the Homeless (PATH), designed to implement the most effective strategies to end homelessness in the south bay area of Los Angeles County.
On Tuesday, October 6, 2015, Knabe and Ridley-Thomas will ask the Board of Supervisors to approve the allocation of $601,645 in funding from the County’s Homeless Prevention Initiative to be used for coordinated outreach and engagement in the South Bay, with the aim to connect the homeless with housing option and health and social services.
“The fact that this significant body of local governments have come forward with a commitment to work in partnership with the County on the effort to end homelessness is an ideal situation, and we must do all we can to support it,” wrote Knabe and Ridley-Thomas in their proposal to the Board.