The Election’s Impact on Homelessness
By: La Homeless Services Authority
Tags: Homeless, Affordable Housing, Government, Housing, Homelessness

LAHSA Executive Director Heidi Marston on how Biden Administration will help efforts to reduce homelessness in Los Angeles

Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Executive Director Heidi Marston spoke to KCRW’s“Greater LA” to discuss the potential impact of a Biden administration on homelessness in Los Angeles.

Marston leads LA county’s coordinated rehousing effort after serving ten years with the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in several roles, including Director of Community Engagement and Reintegration Services and Special Assistant to the Veterans Affairs Secretary under President Obama. The VA brought her to Los Angeles in 2017 to run the VA’s homeless programs, short-term mental health, and the conversion of the VA campus to housing.

In her time with the VA, Marston led efforts to reduce veteran homelessness by 30% in her first year by redesigning LA’s veteran homeless services system and its 600 employees — double the size of most other comparable VA programs. The redesign integrated the VA’s homeless system with its more extensive healthcare system, demonstrating the power of collaboration by building partnerships with community-based non-profits.

The Biden plan for housing and homelessness

President-Elect Biden included his platform for homelessness in his extensive plan for affordable housing. The plan acknowledges a shortage of affordable housing that disproportionately affects communities of color and outlines a $640 billion investment over ten years to end redlining and discriminatory housing practices, provide financial assistance, increase the housing supply, and tackle homelessness.

Biden’s “comprehensive approach to ending homelessness” focuses on seven priorities, several of which directly contradict the previous administration’s policies. The incoming Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will be tasked with a 100-day roadmap to make housing a right for all.

Marston highlighted some of the most promising changes to expect from a Biden administration:

Housing First: Biden’s plan will take on a federal “housing first” approach recognizing that “people need basic necessities like food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues.” This will reverse the current US Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) direction, which recently published a report moving away from the proven Housing First approach.

Biden’s plan will take on a federal “housing first” approach recognizing that “people need basic necessities like food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues.” This will reverse the current US Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) direction, which recently published a report moving away from the proven Housing First approach. Expanding Section 8: One of the biggest impacts on Los Angeles’s housing landscape is the plan’s commitment to expanding Section 8 funding to provide vouchers to all eligible households. Currently, only one in eight eligible households in Los Angeles receives a voucher. This would be a huge step in preventing the economic forces from pushing more people into homelessness.

One of the biggest impacts on Los Angeles’s housing landscape is the plan’s commitment to expanding Section 8 funding to provide vouchers to all eligible households. Currently, only one in eight eligible households in Los Angeles receives a voucher. This would be a huge step in preventing the economic forces from pushing more people into homelessness. Housing for formerly incarcerated: One of the plan’s most ambitious goals is ensuring that 100% of those leaving incarceration have housing upon reentry cutting off the revolving door between incarceration and homelessness. The goal mirrors the efforts of LA’s Office of Diversion and Reentry (ODR). Under the plan, formerly incarcerated folks would no longer be barred from federal public assistance and housing support.

One of the plan’s most ambitious goals is ensuring that 100% of those leaving incarceration have housing upon reentry cutting off the revolving door between incarceration and homelessness. The goal mirrors the efforts of LA’s Office of Diversion and Reentry (ODR). Under the plan, formerly incarcerated folks would no longer be barred from federal public assistance and housing support. LGBTQ Protection: The Biden plan also explicitly calls out the protection of LGBTQ individuals, reversing a current policy that allowed federally funded shelters to force people to identify with their assigned gender at birth when determining accommodations.

Los Angeles calls for community investment

With the passage of Measure J, Los Angeles County took a stand this election to invest in communities and move away from the carceral system that cycles thousands of Angelenos through homelessness and the criminal justice system every year.

Measure J moves resources upstream to prevent both incarceration and homelessness by investing in jobs, housing, healthcare, and mental health services. The “care first, jails last” approach provides the care necessary to stem the forces that push many into homelessness.

Both the national and local elections mark a significant step forward for Los Angeles to increase investment in the prevention of homelessness, one of the three central systems necessary to address homelessness.