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The request was made in June.
Staff from Los Angeles County supervisor Lindsey Horvas emailed the county’s newly established emergency and intensive response center, calling for the cleaning of a recurring homeless camp along the San Fernando Valley rail line.
Joshua Chung, an analyst at the Emergency Centralized Response Centre (ECRC), said he’ll be working quickly.
He contacted outreach workers for nonprofits in the area to edit the names of people living in Northridge camps. He then coordinated with multiple county departments to see if there were beds available to those individuals, and if they qualify for special services due to health issues or drug addiction.
It was all about preparing for that day in late July when the crew arrived on the train tracks, dumped the tarpaulins and tents, and removed residents of makeshift electric lines installed on Siphon Power from the grid.
Bernice Savedra said she and her fellow outreach workers, who worker at the nonprofit LA Family Housing, contacted residents about a month before the cleanup to find help. Before the ECRC, she said that it was often only a few days. Sometimes it only lasts 24 hours.
Outreach and ECRC workers gather near the Northridge homeless camp.
(David Butow/For the Times)
“The more you have to engage, the more time you have to have a thorough conversation,” Saavedra said. “There’s a greater chance of getting people indoors.”
LA County’s Emergency Centralized Response Center launched in January to better coordinate various initiatives among various government and nonprofit organizations, clean camps, healthcare for people, and turn them into temporary or permanent homes.
The dispatch center was established in accordance with requests from supervisors Horvath and Kathryn Barger and is part of a greater effort to increase accountability and coordination when it comes to homeless services, including the new county homeless sector, which will be launched next year.
In the supervisor’s complaint requesting a response center, they previously said there was not one entity not tasked with “overseeing and directing the day-to-day operations of unconformed individuals throughout Los Angeles County.”
Service overlaps and gaps were common.
Jose Duran emerges from the shelter at a homeless camp near the train tracks in Northridge.
(David Butow/For the Times)
When the camp appeared, authorities said that if multiple agencies receive requests for services and then act on their own, multiple outreach teams dispatched to the same location will be dispatched without the knowledge that no one else has been there before.
There was also a question of jurisdiction.
Donald Holt, principal analyst at ECRC, may also ensure that state agencies clean up the camps on their property, prevent them from notifying local agencies that own the adjacent property, and allow residents to move the camps.
Currently, the county says the ECRC is coordinating with more than 150 outreach teams across 11 organizations, as well as multiple government agencies that do housing and clean up to ensure they provide housing and collaborate.
Horvath said the effort is particularly important given the investments people have made to guide people off the streets and put ongoing budget constraints from the government facing all levels.
“I’m really grateful for all the ways we can not only provide results now, but also grow those dollars even further,” Horvath said. “The adjustments were actually carried out in the way we all expected until this centre came together.”
Center staff, based in the offices in the Downtown Management Hall of Fame, handles requests for service from elected officials, public and government agencies, and then coordinates cleanup and work, as well as necessary medical care.
Jose Quinones rides a bike near his shelter at a homeless camp in Northridge.
(David Butow/For the Times)
In addition to eight analysts dedicated to managing requests for specific areas in the county, the center’s workers include Housing for the County’s Health, the Department of Mental Health, the Los Angeles Department of Homeless Services, and staff from the Military and Veterans Cases.
Chung, who previously worked at the non-profit LA Family Housing, said finding someone’s home was once like a phone game. However, things have changed as the government agencies that manage the shelter are currently away from a few cubicles.
“Now I can just talk to us [staff member] Josh…and “Hey, can Josh see this? [bed] Is it available? ” Jung said.
On a recent Tuesday, staff began the day with meetings where people updated each other in response to service requests, including cases where people were successfully moved to housing and other efforts were still in progress.
Jung told a group of around 20 people about autistic people who are worried about living in a refuge for a gathering shelter and are demanding private rooms. Chung said staff were working to find such accommodations, and in the meantime they tried to open up people living in the shelter that are available.
Other staff then cried out to offer suggestions, such as looking for family members and friends who might house them.
Lisa Speights, left, and Jennifer Martinez reviewed an introduction at the Record Hall’s Emergency Central Response Centre Headquarters on Thursday.
(David Franco/Los Angeles County)
Shortly after the meeting, Chong supervisor Lisa Speets stopped at the county housing program at Maribel Rozano Hernandez’s cubicle to discuss housing requests that have come within the past 24 hours.
“You said your clients can’t come in until Monday?” Speights said.
Lozano-Hernandez said yes, the housing sites were full until Monday almost a week later, but she had luck elsewhere.
“I called another site [they] I can take her with me today,” said Rozano Hernandez.
“Ah, that’s good,” replied Speights. She texted the update to homeless individual outreach people.
Holt said the ECRC also ensures that representatives of those jurisdictions are present for cleaning if the camp is located near multiple jurisdictions.
“We’re putting them all together,” he said. “We’re going to do one operation on the same day.”
That’s what happened in the San Fernando Valley recently. Cleanup identifies the benefits of adjustment and the challenges that bring about lasting change.
The camp, located along a dirt road to the north of the used railway line, was on land owned by Union Pacific. Over the truck, the owner is Metrolink to the south.
Three weeks ago, LA Family Housing outreach workers arrive and talk to residents, remind them of cleaning the next day, and encourage them to sign a form to enter the home.
Center Owen Scott will meet with team members at the Emergency Central Response Center and review the introduction on Thursday.
(Los Angeles County)
Outreach workers have already been on the scene about five times and had already found housing options for some people living in around 10 tents and makeshift structures.
Today, some of the teams were substance abuse experts, mental health experts, and formerly homeless workers providing emotional support.
Resident Jose Duran and his partner Melanie Morales said they moved to the street a few months ago when Duran couldn’t pay rent after falling from the three-storey building and stopped working for construction.
Outreach workers were unable to find beds for the couple, but learned information that they had not previously.
Speaking when the train zoomed in the past, Duran said that after falling off the ladder, his leg got infected and he had a skin graft to fix it, but still needed another surgery.
He pulls his pants to reveal his bulging ankles and says he hadn’t heard from his doctor about when he could fix it.
“We have a medical group that can help you,” Savedra told him in Spanish.
“Thank you,” Duran replied.
The next day, the workers wiped out the camp and kicked out the people.
By 10:30am, the camp was gone. The dirt paths on both sides of the railway line were clean. According to a county spokesperson, workers removed “a shelter or tent combined between four and 10 cubic yards of debris.”
Duran and Morales said they were not housed that day and were told there were no beds available now. They waited in the car park behind the dirt road that we called our house a few hours ago while deciding what to do next.
They said the cleanup crew didn’t give them enough time and threw away many of their belongings, including a backpack carrying a photo of Morales’ now-deceased mother.
“That was all I had,” Morales said, restraining tears.
County spokesman Rachel Cussenblock said on the day of cleaning, the 10 people from the camp were not immediately able to accommodate, but they put on a waiting list until beds, including Duran and Morales, became available.
She further said that the other four people had been moved to temporary housing that day, including Jose Quinones.
The day before the cleanup, the 48-year-old said he spent two years on the streets and that drugs and the couple’s issues contributed.
He said he was excited to “start a new life.”
“I want to fix myself,” Kinones said. “None of us wants to be here.”
Two weeks later, the camp was relocated.
Late Wednesday morning there were about 10 tents and makeshift shelter adjacent to the railway.
As the temperature approached 90 degrees, one resident sweated and stripped the wires to allow copper to be sold.
Duran and Morales were there as well, sleeping in an orange tent.
County spokesman Cussen Bloc said the ECRC continues to be housed in cooperation with the rest of the residents.
That doesn’t include Duran and Morales yet, but Cassenblock said three more people have moved inside since the cleanup.
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