Los Angeles County "is so big, you have to customize services and programs" for each neighborhood, said Louisa Ollague, a senior deputy for Supervisor Gloria Molina.
The $7.1 million allocated for the centers is going to each district for customized homeless efforts. Knabe and Molina set aside more than $1 million combined for a study that will analyze the homeless population in the gateway cities of South Los Angeles, coordinated by a group of local leaders. Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who voted against the initial $100-million plan, prefers directing financial aid to established programs.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, October 11, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 31 words Type of Material: Correction
Supervisor's name: An article about Los Angeles County shelving a plan to open regional shelters for the homeless that ran in Sunday's California section misidentified Supervisor Don Knabe as Dan Knabe.
"Rather than some giant entity declaring where and when and how this is going to work, we believe it's more effective to work with people on the ground level," said Antonovich spokesman Tony Bell. Bell cited the success of the Union Station Foundation in Pasadena, which provides an array of housing and other services to homeless people, and is funded in part by county money.
But Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, who represents a dense, largely low-income area with 16,000 homeless, is still hoping to create a regional aid center, said Miriam Long, a Burke deputy. "We're going to have one," Long said. "It's just a matter of where."
City officials launched similarly ambitious plans to reduce homelessness, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spending $150 million over the last three years to develop affordable housing with accessible social services. But while the city's year-old police crackdown on the sidewalks of skid row has sharply reduced crime in the downtown area, it has also pushed people farther from the aid centers concentrated there.
The county is working to enhance services for the homeless countywide, including:
Establishing a court where judges hear misdemeanor cases involving homeless people.
Helping them find housing and money to cover rent and moving costs.
Offering social service aid to people leaving hospitals or jails.
Providing relocation experts to help families move off skid row.
The county's work has produced some successes: A $5.7-million project to get skid row families into stable housing has moved 292 families off the streets.
County officials are sifting through about 200 proposals from private social service organizations hoping for a share of the $32 million earmarked for local homeless prevention efforts. The money is expected to be disbursed early next year -- nearly two years after supervisors approved the plan.
