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Skid Row Housing Trust, SRO Housing Corporation & Downtown Women's Center
Los Angeles, CA
Mike Alvidrez is the Executive Director of Skid Row Housing Trust, Anita Nelson is the Chief Executive Officer of SRO Housing Corporation and Lisa Watson is the Executive Director of the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles.
Monday, February, 1, 2010
On Skid Row, Permanent Housing Works
By Mike Alvidrez, Anita Nelson & Lisa Watson
As permanent supportive housing providers in Skid Row, we at the Skid Row Housing Trust, SRO Housing Corporation and the Downtown Women’s Center were deeply disheartened by Rev. Andy Bales’ attack on permanent housing linked to support services.
When we heard he had concerns, signers of the letter sent to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called to meet with Rev. Bales but, unfortunately, he has not answered our calls. We still hope we can find common ground. We believe that the best outcome for Skid Row will only occur if we join together in respectful dialogue.
That said, we feel we must correct some errors in Rev. Bales post. The claim that “housing groups actually dissuade their employees from reporting the crimes or cooperating with police” is absurd. Anyone who spends any time in the supportive housing sites in Skid Row knows that the majority are not only safe, but offer an amazing sense of calm and peace in contrast to the chaos on the streets outside.
It is sadly true that a number of residents of supportive housing pass away each year. The Reverend conflates correlation, however, with causation. Because we serve the people on the streets suffering from the most profound illnesses, once established in a home of their own and with regular health and mental health care, some of our residents come to learn that they are suffering from terminal illnesses. While this is heartbreaking, we take pride that we can provide these men and women with the opportunity to live out their final months and years with a sense of security, privacy, and dignity.
The tragedy is not that people pass away in supportive housing, but that individuals with such illnesses are relegated to live a portion of their lives on the streets at all.
Our community has unprecedented concentrations of homelessness, poverty, and illness. The men, women, and children living on the streets of Skid Row have exhausted all resources by the time they end up on Skid Row. The adults on Skid Row often suffer from numerous disabling conditions and their experience of homelessness only weakens their health further. The community-based organizations are overwhelmed by the immense need and the complexity of challenges to helping the people we serve to restore their lives.
A recent study by the Los Angeles Economic Roundtable, “Where We Sleep: The Costs of Housing and Homelessness in Los Angeles,” shows that permanent supportive housing has a high success rate in keeping residents from returning to homelessness. It also reduces the local costs of homelessness by about 80 percent. This report confirms the findings of similar studies from across the nation.
The best way to evaluate permanent supportive housing is to actually see it. We invite anyone who is interested to take a tour of our buildings.
One thing that everyone who cares about Skid Row agrees is that there is much more work to do. We will continue to work with others to develop effective strategies for law enforcement and community groups to work together towards reducing homelessness and suffering on Skid Row.
We will continue to do the hard work of addressing the root causes of homelessness to improve Skid Row. We are heartened that such a broad and diverse group of stakeholders -- including religious leaders, corporate lawyers, shelters, residents, social service providers, business people, healthcare providers and permanent supportive housing providers -- came together to engage the Mayor and the Police Chief in a constructive dialog about how to move forward.
Mike Alvidrez
Executive Director, Skid Row Housing Trust
Anita Nelson
Chief Executive Officer, SRO Housing Corporation
Lisa Watson
Executive Director, Downtown Women’s Center
Photograph from http://media.photobucket.com/image/permanent%20supportive%20housing/glennaglennaglenna/home.jpg
Posted 2010-02-01 15:20:34
A Third Wave Of Addressing Homelesness Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Civil Overestimation Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Body Found In A River Near Long Beach Friday, February 26, 2010
Nationwide Vacant Property Takeovers Throughout May 2010 Friday, April 10, 2009
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