Keeping at-risk residents from losing their housing will be a key to solving homelessness
#Los Angeles #Homelessness Prevention #Measure A #Rental Assistance #Inner City Law Center #California Policy Lab #Eviction Defense #Housing Crisis
📌 Key Takeaways
- Preventing homelessness is significantly more cost-effective and less traumatic than rehousing people once they are on the street.
- A Santa Clara County study showed that $7,000 in financial assistance kept 93% of at-risk residents housed for at least two years.
- Legal representation and rental assistance are primary defense mechanisms against eviction, yet often underfunded.
- New funding from Los Angeles County's Measure A sales tax will be used to scale predictive outreach and preventative services.
📖 Full Retelling
The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board and California policy experts emphasized on March 2, 2025, that prioritizing homelessness prevention is the most effective and least costly strategy for addressing the housing crisis in Los Angeles County. As the region grapples with an estimated 75,000 unhoused individuals, officials and nonprofit leaders argue that stopping families from losing their homes initially is far more humane than attempting to navigate them through the trauma of the shelter system and eventual permanent rehousing. This shift in focus comes as the city and county face the reality that construction of new units cannot keep pace with the number of residents falling into poverty and displacement.
Data from a recent conference organized by the California Policy Lab at UCLA highlights the efficacy of direct financial intervention. In Santa Clara County, a pilot program providing an average of $7,000 in rental assistance to at-risk households resulted in a 93% success rate in keeping those residents housed two years later. Despite such evidence, prevention programs are often the first to face budget cuts during fiscal tightening. Experts like Adam Murray of the Inner City Law Center point out that legal representation in eviction court is another critical tool, as tenants with lawyers are significantly more likely to reach settlements that keep them in their homes.
However, identifying who needs help remains a significant hurdle because many at-risk individuals are not formal leaseholders or are unaware that aid exists. To solve this, researchers suggest using predictive modeling and proactive outreach at community hubs like food banks, schools, and hospitals to catch people before they reach a crisis point. With the recent approval of the Measure A sales tax, Los Angeles County will have a dedicated funding stream for these efforts, though the challenge remains in scaling services for those exiting foster care or the carceral system who are particularly vulnerable to housing instability.
🏷️ Themes
Public Policy, Homelessness, Social Services
📚 Related People & Topics
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Most populous city in California, United States
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📄 Original Source Content
By The Times Editorial Board March 2, 2025 5 AM PT Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X LinkedIn Threads Reddit WhatsApp Copy Link URL Copied! Print p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix mb-10 md:max-w-170 md:mx-auto" data-subscriber-content> Preventing homelessness is a crucial piece of the puzzle for solving this problem in Los Angeles. It is easier and less costly to keep someone from becoming homeless than it is to help them out of the trauma of homelessness and find them permanent housing. No one wants to see more people forced into the pain of homelessness. And already there isn’t nearly enough housing for the estimated 75,000 homeless people in L.A. This remains true despite efforts by the county and the city of Los Angeles to help finance the construction or purchase of housing units for homeless individuals and families. But prevention is not as simple as it sounds. Keeping people in their homes is not as expensive as building or procuring homes for the unhoused, but prevention does require millions of dollars in funding. County officials have said prevention is key, but programs haven’t always gotten the funding they needed. Advertisement If homelessness prevention “is the last thing that is funded and the first thing that is cut when budgets get tight, we are not investing in prevention the way that we have to if we are going to end homelessness in Los Angeles and elsewhere,” said Adam Murray, the chief executive of the Inner City Law Center, a nonprofit firm on Skid Row that advocates for low-income and homeless individuals and families. Among other services, the center helps people fight eviction proceedings. Having a lawyer dramatically increases the chances of a tenant either winning eviction proceedings or reaching a settlement with a landlord that allows the resident to stay in place. But nearly half of people becoming homeless in California left a living arrangement where they were not the leaseholder, according to a recent s...