Downtown Isn’t Only Magnet for Homeless

Homelessness is pervasive in Los Angeles County, and communities from Brentwood to East Los Angeles have men, women and children living on the streets, according to a new report that offers the most detailed examination to date of who is homeless and why.

The report also counters a common belief that Los Angeles, with its sunny clime and relatively generous social resources, is a magnet for the homeless. In fact, 78% of people said they were already living here when they became homeless.

The findings are from a January 2005 street count and survey of homeless people and are included in a report to be released today by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

Earlier results from that count and others, in Glendale, Pasadena and Long Beach, found more than 88,000 people living countywide on streets and in shelters and vehicles, with about 35,000 of them chronically homeless. The numbers were revised slightly downward from original estimates of 90,000 after more analysis.

The largest concentration of homeless people -- at 20,000 -- was found in metropolitan Los Angeles, which includes downtown and stretches from Mount Washington to West Hollywood.

But more than 20,000 homeless people were living in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys and more than 3,500 in the Antelope Valley. Sixteen percent of the homeless population were children under the age of 18.

Los Angeles County has gained notoriety as the homeless capital of the nation, and conditions in downtown’s skid row recently have galvanized policymakers to focus more attention and money on housing and emergency shelter needs.

Los Angeles County supervisors recently allocated $24 million for homeless services, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a $50-million housing plan.

But the new geographic breakdowns expose the extent to which homeless people are present in upscale communities as well as poor ones.

For example, more than 2,500 homeless people were counted in the West Los Angeles City Council district that includes Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Marina del Rey and Venice. More than 2,000 were counted in the district that includes Encino, Sherman Oaks, Westwood and Century City.

“The typical response in Los Angeles is ‘out of sight, out of mind’ because most people don’t see the homeless in their area,” said Mitchell Netburn, executive director of the joint city-county Homeless Services Authority. “It’s a huge county and the main mode of transportation is by car. People just don’t interact as much, and due to the weather nobody wakes up and sees a headline that 10 people died the night before. Because of that, it’s relatively easy to ignore the problem in their own backyard.”

Consider Pamela Begalla, 50, who grew up in Granada Hills and was living in Santa Clarita when she became homeless 3 1/2 years ago.

She has since lived out of her Ford Explorer, staying near parks, or parking in restaurant or motel lots where there are lights and a chance to find hot water.

Though she has traveled around a bit, she has not thought of leaving the Santa Clarita Valley.

That’s where her son, now 18, went to school and where she has cobbled together a small but vital support system that includes a food pantry and the county-run winter shelter, where she spends her nights.

“I like it out here,” said Begalla, who has worked as a manicurist but has learning disabilities and receives government aid. “I’ve been here 12 years and remember when there was nothing around. It’s where I raised my son and where I have some support. But it’s also been rough bouncing around, and I don’t think I could have survived if it weren’t for my father, who was a gunner in the Marines and taught me to be strong.”

There are thousands like Begalla, according to the report. The county contracted with Applied Survey Research, a Watsonville, Calif.-based company that had done previous homeless surveys, to conduct a shelter count, a street count in 500 census tracts, an in-depth survey of 3,300 homeless people and a telephone survey of about 1,000 households to find so-called hidden homeless sleeping in garages or camping on private property.

UCLA researchers then deployed sophisticated sampling methods, using figures from the 1,300 census tracts that were not counted, welfare rolls, land-use plans and other data to formulate a statistically accurate countywide projection.

Some sampling techniques have been controversial, but officials said the Los Angeles census was one of the most ambitious in the nation and met U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines for homeless counts.

Federal officials said they had not yet analyzed the quality of the Los Angeles data. But Peter Connery, vice president of Applied Survey Research, said he was confident that the numbers were sound.

He said that volunteers physically counted more than 33,000 people during last January’s street and shelter count and that the 88,000 overall county number tracks closely with previous estimates.

“Certainly in Los Angeles you have big issues relative to affordable housing availability, and there are significant poverty issues throughout Southern California and Los Angeles. Naturally, where there are higher levels of poverty you’re going to see more homelessness,” Connery said.

Many officials and experts have long complained that some communities refuse to acknowledge and provide for homeless people in their midst.

“I think there’s been an ongoing battle between the city and the county about who has responsibility that has made it harder to get anything done,” said Jennifer Wolch, a USC professor of geography who has studied homelessness. “Also historically, many communities feel this is not their problem, so getting localities to pay their fair share and see homelessness as a regional problem and understand the need for a regional solution has been an uphill battle.”

That must change, said Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, whose district includes Brentwood and Venice. He has formed a committee with council members Jan Perry, who represents parts of skid row, and Eric Garcetti, whose district includes Hollywood, to focus on the issue and find more resources.

“In my district they found about 2,500 homeless people, but you can basically double that because Santa Monica is contiguous to me and the homeless population flows back and forth between the two communities,” Rosendahl said. “We have found homeless people living in the Ballona Wetlands in encampments.”

In Beverly Hills, All Saints’ Parish, an Episcopal church on North Camden Drive, feeds 80 to 140 homeless people hot meals each Monday, said Michael Deegan, the church’s director of homeless assistance programs.

Most of them are Westside regulars who stay in the parks and hidden nooks of a town more noted for mansions than soup kitchens.

“There are a number that live in Beverly Hills and are known by the community, the police, so it’s very much a two-way communication,” Deegan said. “We serve a hot lunch on Mondays, the Presbyterian church next door serves a meal on Tuesday, and the Catholic church on Fridays. So I see these folks as they are going between buildings and riding buses, so they are sort of community members.”

The face-to-face surveys of more than 3,000 homeless people provide detailed profiles of the county’s homeless population. Among other findings:

* 52% of the respondents said they had been homeless for one year or more; 37% for two or more years.

* 47% of respondents said they had rented an apartment or home immediately before becoming homeless. Nineteen percent said they lived with their families, and 14% said they lived with friends.

* Nearly 53% of respondents said they were not living in permanent housing because they could not afford the rent, while 48% said that not having a job or income prevented them from finding permanent housing.

* 34% said they were experiencing mental illness, 55% said they were depressed, and 35% said they were physically disabled.

* 75% reported using drugs or alcohol.

David, 53, who is staying in Santa Clarita’s winter shelter, said he had lived in the area since the 1970s. He has been in and out of homelessness for 10 years, working when he can as an all-purpose laborer and earning $30 to $40 a day recycling cans.

For him the area is home, and he has gotten used to the cold winters and scorching summers. But, he said, more services are needed.

“Having a year-round shelter would be nice,” said David, who wanted to use only his first name. “A lot of people don’t have jobs and can’t find work. We need some place for homeless people to go that’s centralized. People have needs all year long and not just for a couple of months a year.”

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Where the homeless live

A census of homelessness in Greater Los Angeles was conducted in January 2005. The homeless population counted in each Los Angles City Council district:

*--* Councilmember Number of homeless Percent of total District 1 Ed Reyes 4,587 9.5% District 2 Wendy Greuel 1,531 3.2 District 3 Dennis P. Zine 1,524 3.2 District 4 Tom LaBonge 1,929 4.0 District 5 Jack Weiss 2,066 4.3 District 6 Tony Cardenas 2,254 4.7 District 7 Alex Padilla 1,769 3.7 District 8 Bernard Parks 6,484 13.5 District 9 Jan Perry 8,425 17.5 District 10 Herb J. Wesson Jr. 3,143 6.5 District 11 Bill Rosendahl 2,526 5.3 District 12 Greig Smith 1,123 2.3 District 13 Eric Garcetti 2,858 5.9 District 14 Jose Huizar 5,036 10.5 District 15 Janice Hahn 2,850 5.9

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Source: Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority