HOMELESS SWAMP CHARITY RESOURCES GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO WORK CLOSELY WITH NONPROFIT SECTOR, REPORT SAYS.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON

Staff Writer

Nonprofit groups face a mounting crisis as they find themselves increasingly responsible for caring for a growing regional homeless population, a new UCLA report says.

Charities spent $30 million on services for the homeless in 2000 and $47 million just two years later -- increasing the amount spent on each homeless person from $384 to $574.

But by 2005, spending for each homeless person fell nearly $100 because of a 12 percent surge in the population, says the report by the Center for Civil Society at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"At the local, state and national levels, elected officials have disproportionately walked away from addressing the crisis of homelessness, leaving it up to the incredibly overwhelmed nonprofit sector to try and address," Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness, said Monday.

"The best we can do now is manage homelessness. We are not even close on the nonprofit side to ending or preventing it."

The report comes when soaring real-estate prices on the open market have ballooned the unmet demand for below-market-price housing provided by local, state and federal agencies.

Of the 9.9 million residents of Los Angeles County, an estimated 90,000 are homeless -- including 54,000 women and children.

Nonprofit temporary housing and homeless shelters in the county increased by 50 percent from 22 to 33 from 2000 to 2003. One was added between 2003 and 2005. Each of these shelters served about 2,600 homeless people in 2005, up 4 percent from 2003.

But even the increase in shelters has been unable to keep up with the growing numbers of homeless, including many forced onto the streets by rising rents.

Rents on the rise

From 1997 to 2005, the cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment rose by 72 percent. A decade ago, 59 percent of renters in the county could afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment. But by 2005, only 33 percent of renters could because it required an income of more than $50,000 annually.

The report comes when state and federal governments have cut health and welfare programs, including affordable-housing programs. City and county government have allocated $329 million to address the homeless crisis since March 2006, but analysts say the state and federal cuts are offsetting those increases.

Helmut Anheier, director of the Center for Civil Society and a professor in the UCLA Department of Social Welfare, said local governments need to seriously coordinate their efforts with those of nonprofit groups to address the crisis.

"Unless we have a long-term coalition between government and nonprofits in addressing issues like homelessness, we are not going to be able to solve it," Anheier said. "We are always going to be winning a bit, losing a bit, and going up and down with the numbers. There has to be a sustained effort."

Frustration mounts

More than a year after county officials introduced a $100 million plan to combat homelessness, many are frustrated that the city's point person, Torie Osborn, and the county's homeless coordinator, Assistant Administrative Officer Lari Sheehan, have been replaced. Leslie Wise took over as the city's homeless coordinator. Garrison Smith replaced Sheehan in county government.

"Right now, it's so focused on fixing the problem in the short term," Anheier said.

"Even if you move the homeless off Skid Row," he said, "other homeless people will replace them in a year or two. You have to break the cycle. Government can't do it alone. Nonprofits can't do it alone. They have to work together."

Elise Buik, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, said she is encouraged by steps city and county officials have taken.

"A lot of people have touted New York City's effectiveness in getting people off the streets," Buik said. "But they are spending $1.7 billion a year on their population, which is smaller than ours. We are spending $600 million a year, and our homeless population is larger."

In an attachment to the report, Osborn wrote that it will take city, county and nonprofit agencies working together to achieve the 15-20 percent reductions in homelessness that many cities around the nation have achieved in the last five years.

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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