OPINION: Project Roomkey not the only failed homelessness policy under Mayor Garcetti

By Elvira Moreno

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti campaigned for re-election on the promise of addressing the homelessness crisis in LA. Since elected however, LA has seen a dramatic rise in homelessness, and an increase in ensuing problems as a result. 

There has been much written about the failure of “Project Roomkey,” which was a program created to secure empty hotel and motel rooms for people experiencing homelessness in the city, in part to prevent the spread of COVID-19. While the goal of the program was to house 15,000 “medically vulnerable” homeless people, so far they have only secured housing for 4,100 people.

Not only has this program fallen far short of its goal and the city’s needs, a recent Los Angeles Times article details how the program “discriminates against some of the most vulnerable living on the streets.” This is according to a group of advocates for elderly and disabled residents, who sent a letter to the LA Homeless Services Authority claiming that those responsible for selecting individuals for Project Roomkey are deliberately excluding “those who cannot handle their own basic activities, such as going to the toilet or getting out of bed.” Naturally, this will further disenfranchise those who are disabled and homeless, who are often in the most need of assistance and are the exact people Project Roomkey was supposed to help. 

Given that Project Roomkey could never adequately address the homelessness crisis, even if it had been successful, it was understandable when the city opened 26 new homelessness shelters. Unfortunately, Mayor Garcetti has now decided to close many of these shelters, with only seven remaining. And when the LA Times began inquiring about why a specific shelter was closing, one of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s spokesmen said that “the city had reversed course, and it would remain open.”

Mayor Garcetti also launched "A Bridge Home" program, aimed at providing homeless Angelenos “a refuge in the community...until they can be connected with a permanent home.” The goal was for residents to remain at those interim sites for three months before being moved to permanent housing. But early results show that residents are not departing for permanent housing like politicians expected. According to LAist, at the first site that opened, “only 35 people have moved on to permanent housing over the past two years, out of a total 117 served.”

Homelessness is at such a crisis point in the city that many have organized a recall petition to remove Mayor Garcetti from office. In addition, the LA Alliance for Human Rights is suing because of the “unsafe and inhumane conditions” of the homeless encampments in the city.

And it is no surprise that in mid-August, Mayor Eric Garcetti’s top advisor on homelessness Christina Miller, announced her resignation. As the LA Times puts it, her resignation comes at a time when the “number of people living on the streets continues to grow [despite] more money than ever is being spent to house people.” 

With temperatures reaching record highs in California, and the coronavirus still raging, it is disappointing to see Mayor Garcetti continue to fail so miserably on this issue. Given that it was a key campaign promise for the mayor, it is understandably hard for LA residents to believe in his leadership moving forward.

Elvira Moreno is a former city councilwoman in Los Angeles County.