West Hollywood’s Homeless Initiative will host a “Homeless Services Connect Day” to provide opportunities for people who are experiencing homelessness to access programs and services offered by an array of local and regional organizations.
Homeless Services Connect Day will take place on March 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the West Hollywood Park Auditorium, located at 647 N. San Vicente Boulevard. While the event is free and drop-in, it is aimed at providing connections to service for people who are experiencing homeless; it is not intended for the community at large. The city is working with local homeless services agencies and the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to provide information about the event that can be distributed to community members experiencing homelessness.
An announcement of the event says the city’s Homeless Initiative seeks to address homelessness with a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency, collaborative response. Homeless Services Connect Day will include programs and services offered by local and regional organizations including: shelter; health and mental health services; job readiness assistance; substance abuse treatment; connection to public benefits; non-profit agencies offering food, showers, clothing, and more. In addition, there will be no-charge health and wellness services available, such as: flu vaccines; HIV testing; and haircuts.”
During the past three years, the city’s Homeless Initiative, in collaboration with grant-funded community partners, has made a number of achievements, including:
- Placing more than 80 people into permanent housing;
- Providing more than 16,700 emergency shelter bed nights to youth and adults;
- Serving more than 300 formerly homeless individuals with substance abuse recovery programs; and
- Preventing homelessness for hundreds of West Hollywood residents through a combination of rental assistance programs and intensive case management services for those at risk of homelessness, including formerly homeless individuals and older adults.
Additional information about the City of West Hollywood’s Homeless Initiative can be found online.
For people who are concerned about a community member who is homeless, call the West Hollywood Homeless Initiative Concern Line at (323) 848-6590. If your concern requires time-sensitive assistance during nights or weekends, please call the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station at (310) 855-8850. For life-threatening emergencies or criminal activity, call 911.
For more information, please contact city’s Strategic Initiatives Division Manager Corri Planck at (323) 848-6430 or cplanck@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, call TTY (323) 848-6496.
All you said is true.
Seconded. Anyone can see that the trendy phrase “experiencing homelessness” is being used to give the impression that these nice, sweet, innocents on the street are going through something they had/have no control over and therefore we should all have sympathy and hand them sandwiches while we ask how their day is going. The reality is you can’t walk two blocks along SMB without being verbally (sometimes physically) imposed upon by hard-core homeless crazies who don’t WANT to get better and live with a roof over their heads.
Use the Tacoma model for Homeless outreach. People need medical care and treatment for lice,bedbugs,and scabies. Put trailers all over the old bus depot and let it be a services referral depot.
What old bus depot?
Dear West Hollywood, Please stop patting yourself on the back for these “feel-good/do-good” initiatives. Everything at arms length but no one rolling up their sleeves to do anything substantial. Phantom fix-it has no merit, neither does the shell game described in endless “housing dialogue”. This city had an opportunity to do a triage effort of the few homeless individuals in West Hollywood with temporary housing created from shipping crates on locations like Crescent Heights & Santa Monica Blvd. The community could have seen real action before our eyes. But nooooooo, “if we do that , it will be an invitation… Read more »
Yes, basic problem solving. The need to hire practical qualified, task oriented individuals armed with resourcefulness. The city largely employ those who create log jams and are overly rewarded with benefits while they skillfully more papers around their desks and have no vision beyond the four corners. Hive/solo mentality.
Good example, eradicating gas powered leaf blowers. The same code compliance officers are still employed with benefits and the problem persists. Fine these folks, fine the property owner that employs the non compliant gardener/maintenance worker, confiscate his gas powered machine and crush it/ PUT the correct one into their hands on the spot. Send the bill to the property owner. The law is on the books, find a way to do the confiscation legally. Next.
I’m sure this event is well intended, but it should occur on a regular basis like once a week. Being that West Hollywood is a”contract” city, it does not directly provide many services. Most everything is contracted out. The homeless people I talk to say that they are sent to places far away like Tarzana for help with no way of getting there. It would be interesting to see an audit of all the “achievements” they mention in this article. I’m not skeptical, but I am a “proof and transparency” kind of person. It’s one thing to make claims, but… Read more »