Raising kids?<\/p>\n
Our Early Childhood newsletter, focused on raising kids ages 0-5, is your place to get reads and resources on the topics most important to your family. <\/p>\n
When Los Angeles County and city officials released the results of their latest count of unhoused people<\/a> in July, they touted the results as a win: \u201c\u200aOver the last two years, our leaders came together to bring people inside, and their efforts have paid off,\u201d said<\/a> Va Lecia Adams Kellum, who until this past week<\/a> ran the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.<\/p>\n Homelessness is down in the LA region \u2014 but not for children and families<\/p>\n Left out of that announcement, however, was any mention of families and children. But data reviewed by LAist show that the situation for families with children has not improved \u2014 especially for those living on the street.<\/p>\n LAHSA says the increases are not statistically significant, but it also means the agency can\u2019t demonstrate progress in reducing child homelessness. And there’s another trend: among unsheltered families, the number of people in those families increased by 22% \u2014 suggesting that larger families are being displaced.<\/p>\n The trends run counter to what the region has seen overall with individuals experiencing homelessness. Unsheltered homelessness declined in the county by 9.5%<\/a>, and 14% over the last two years.<\/p>\n How the homeless count works<\/p>\n Larger family sizes<\/p>\n Providers on the ground have also noticed a growing need among families.<\/p>\n Kelvin Driscoll, interim co-director at HOPICS, a homeless services provider in South L.A., said they\u2019re seeing an increase in two-parent households. And he said it can be complex to find placement for larger families.<\/p>\n Rooms, for instance, have occupancy limits \u2014 often 3 to 4 in a room \u2014 meaning families have to split up.<\/p>\n \u201cDo they want to stay together? Are the rooms close to each other? How close is the school? Let\u2019s say it\u2019s a single mother. What are the ages of the kids? \u2026 Can they be by themselves in a room?\u201d Driscoll said. \u201cThose challenges just don\u2019t exist on the single adult side.\u201d<\/p>\n Para Los Ni\u00f1os, which provides early educational services in L.A., said they\u2019ve seen sharp increases in unhoused students at their schools in recent years. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen it just in general, families that are struggling,\u201d said Jimmy Urizar, vice president of community and student services.<\/p>\n Housing in general is also scarce for families<\/a> who have to find bigger units.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWe’re seeing a lot of permanent supportive housing and a majority of those units are one bedroom units,\u201d said Sasha Morozov, regional director for PATH, an L.A. service provider.<\/p>\n \u201cOur homelessness response system was originally designed around single adults \u2014 not families. As a result, services for families are often too few and the first to run out,\u201d said L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell. <\/p>\n Advocates say resources are drying up<\/p>\n In recent years, city and county leaders have honed in on efforts to clear encampments and move people into shelters through programs like Inside Safe and Pathway Home. But families are often not in encampments, and are more likely to be closer to a school and living in their cars, providers said.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, the priority has been on reducing encampments, and that’s, I think, where families have been left behind,\u201d said Katie Hill, CEO of Union Station Homeless Services. She said her organization has had to turn away over 700 families since December because they were at capacity.<\/p>\n \u201cMotel vouchers are really drying up,\u201d Hill said. <\/p>\n She added that there\u2019s a pause on accepting new families for a subsidy program that helps people pay rent, called time-limited subsidies<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThe need is just astronomical,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Service providers are also worried about a 71% cut in state dollars to help families in this year’s LAHSA budget<\/a>. As fewer families get into housing, more of them will end up unsheltered, said Morozov of PATH.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s becoming a snowball effect,\u201d she said. \u201cWhere else are families going to go?\u201d<\/p>\n Families unable to afford housing<\/p>\n Providers told LAist they\u2019ve seen families who are becoming homeless for the first time.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWhat we’ve been seeing is just a steady increase over time that the cost of housing is pushing more and more people onto the margins, and that includes families,\u201d said Hill of Union Station Homeless Services.<\/p>\n\n
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