WE Labs: Pitch a Solution for Homelessness

On Tuesday. Josephine Villaseñor and I attended WE Lab's event Pitch A Solution for Homelessness. What stood out about the meeting, was it wasn't a group of residents complaining about the problem, it was concerned citizens actually attempting to pitch solutions to it. 

Homelessness is a growing problem in Long Beach. The Police Department has two Quality of Life Officers that work in tandem with Health and Human Services and are dedicated to helping the homeless get back on their feet and find shelter. However, for the growing homeless population a better solution is needed. 

Here were some of the pitches that were made. 

The ideas pitched included the need for a central tree of information, that would branch out from a single number such as 211. 211 LA County, a 501(c)3 organization, is one of the largest and most effective resource lines in the nation providing access to comprehensive social services and disaster support for L.A. County residents.

A second idea was the use of port containers in the creation of housing campuses for the homeless. Shipping container homes were okayed for the Wrigley area in 2011. You can also find one at the intersection of Ocean and Temple. Each shelter would be called a campus. Each campus would serve a specific need. For instance, one campus may be devoted to drug recovery. One campus might be reserved for families getting back on their feet. 

The containers are strong enough to resist weathering. They could also be easily stacked. Each campus could be built for around $30 a square foot, before factoring in landscaping, health services and security. There would be some challenges in finding suitable land that was hooked up to the sewer system. There are currently a lot of these crates at the port going to waste. In many cases  they are just given away.

Additional ideas included an app that would allow residents to donate their recycle goods as a source of funding for homeless related issues. The idea pitched through the organization Ashla and Monday Night Mission would create a map of those residents who agreed to donate their recyclables which would then be picked up by the homeless as a $15 an hour minimum wage job. The obvious issue is thatvtaking those recycle goods, if the idea were to take money out of the city's budget, which will already experience a deficit next year.

The final idea was the creation of a database of shelters that would remove those shelters temporarily from the listing when beds are not available. The website would also allow homeless users to make reservations through the website and screen out those shelters that could not meet their needs. The link above would require shelter buy in before it could be of anyuse. There was an issue with making too much of the shelter's information public, but in the end most in attendance agreed the app would be very beneficial to social workers, police and community service workers trying to find a path off the street

What a prefabricated container house looks like, from the Mojave Desert.

Go Long Beach Run 02/08/2016

A Go Long Beach Run today found 14 separate incidents of tagging and 14 incidents of dumping. Of the 14 taggings, ten were gang related and four were probably not. The gang related tagging clusters north of Gaviota and 15th street. Look for the yellow circle on the map. The dumping in that same area is also very serve. There is also a trend of dumping/ minor tagging that begins at Gaviota and Anaheim and then travels North West to 17th and Orange. There is a similar trend following Alamitos and 17th Street South.

Keep an eye on Gaviota/ Rose/ Gardenia where most of the tagging starts. This time, keep your eyes peeled north of 15th Street. Also keep an eye on the encampment outside the CVS at Ester and Orange, it has grown ridiculously large. The furniture store there was reported to Go Long beach for pick up. You can view the Google Map that saves this information here:  

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en_US&app=mp&mid=z-3IaZ6r2iPM.k5__YcbLgrRE

The GO Long Beach app is designed to provide Long Beach, CA residents, businesses, and visitors the opportunity to access City Hall, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere. You will be able to quickly submit service requests for issues such as graffiti, potholes and sign damage. iPhone and Android device users can simply open the App, select an issue, take a picture, and tap submit - the App knows the exact location and sends the issue directly to city staff. You will also be able to track the status of your requests through your mobile device. So far our neighborhood has used this app, 876 times.

 We will get the East end of the MacArthur Park Neighborhood and make a run through AOC7 next. #SupportJosephine

Introducing The Go Long Beach Run Map

In an effort to help police, Code Enforcement and community watch members, we are creating a map of our Go Long Beach Runs. This is for creating a running record of the tagging and dumping in the area. Gonna try to partner with Josephine A Villaseñor and do this for all of District Six. This is the first attempt, enlarge the map and it will show you where the gang related tagging, encampments and dumping is in the neighborhood. Doing this to make it easier for Community Watch Members to know where to keep their eyes on. I also created a graphic for this week to show you exactly what is happening and where. 

You will notice the dumping is largely around 14th street. And the tagging is largely around Gaviota, seemingly spreading out from the alleyway. What this tells me is if you live along Rose or Gaviota south of 15th, that alleyway needs to be watched. Also notice the trend along Orange and Alamitos of dumping. People tend to dump on that corner just south of Barcelona, and the tagging happens a lot on the East end of the street. All the minor tagging seems to radiate out from it, except for a street sweeping sign on Gundry, which was tagged much earlier.

Here is the ongoing map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en_US&app=mp&mid=z-3IaZ6r2iPM.k5__YcbLgrRE

 The map will be expanded to include unreported crime and sidewalk damage soon.

#SupportJosephine [6th District City Council]

Midweek Safety Update: Crime Up Significantly

This is an early entry into the crime updates. There is increased activity between Walnut and Rose south of 14th Street. The loitering at 1335 Walnut and homeless encampment at Walnut and Anaheim is increased. This coincides with car thefts, assaults and robberies. Please be very cautious on Walnut, Gaviota or Rose south of 14th Street.

There are also a lot of incidents along 11th Street from Cherry all the way to Alamitos. This includes a cluster of burglaries along Alamitos and assortment of incidents that trend west starting at Cherry. We will be adding 11th Street to our Tonight's: Community Watch Route. And if we See Something, we will be Saying Something. Also notice that last week we predicted car thefts would start this week along Rotary Centennial Park, and that's exactly what's happening.

A large percentage of the incidents that you see on the map happened on Sunday 08/23/2015, the same day as the shooting on Pine and PCH. Please familiarize yourself with that shooting so the victim is a name instead of a statistic. Neighborhood Expansion has resulted in 17 additional Go Long Beach requests so far.

West Division Leadership Forum 06/23/2015 - In Review

Today there was an hour and a half leadership forum. About fifty West Division residents, business owners and government officials were in attendance. The attendance was somewhat less than the last Leadership Forum. The forum focused on Long Beach's homeless population.

There were three guest speakers from the Multi-Service Center, from Health and Human Services and from the Quality of Life Division of the Long Beach Police. Part of the meeting involved explaining the bi-annual census numbers, which Long Beach is required to collect to receive federal funding related to the homeless population. Those numbers show an 18% decrease in the homeless population between 2013 and 2015. There was also a 42% decrease in the population of homeless vets. This compares to a 12 percent increase in the homeless population in LA.

Disparities between what looks like an increase in the homeless population and the census numbers may be because the city recently cleared the homeless population out of the LA River and the beaches. This pushed a lot of Long Beach's homeless population back into some of the poorer neighborhoods.

Part of the reason for this is Mayor Robert Garcia's direct challenge to put an end to all homeless vets. Another may be the existence of new programs such as VASH: a kind of Section 8 for homeless vets. The Quality of Live division of the LBPD is a proactive policing unit that tries to coordinate resources for Long Beach residents who find themselves on the street. The unit works closely with the Multi Service Center and the Department of Health and Human Resources.

---

At the Quality of Life division, we have a goal of no homeless children in Long Beach

---

The Quality of Life Division has a wide range of responsibilities that have ranged from helping twenty-year homeless vets find housing to helping homeless people reunite with family. A repeating theme was that no matter how many resources are available, it's very difficult to help anyone who doesn't want help, and that often times, out reach can take years before the homeless person is ready to leave the street. Two other often repeated is that being homeless in itself it isn't a crime.

Usually, when the Quality of Life Division does do out reach they will target specific areas of Long Beach. One day, they may target the parks; another day they may target businesses and on another the beaches. They also stated, they will go out of their way to make sure every child in Long Beach has a home.

Something, that was somewhat counter intuitive was the Quality of Life Division discourages giving money or food to the homeless population as it de-incentives getting help. Instead, they request those who want to help the homeless volunteer in homeless shelters like the Long Beach Rescue Mission or donate to the institutions directly helping them. You can also help the Quality of Life Division of the LBPD by donating to the Long Beach Police Foundation, that directly helps fund it:

www.lbpolicefoundation.org.

There were no other topics touched on at tonight's meeting.