{"id":23638,"date":"2024-02-09T00:58:13","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T06:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23638"},"modified":"2024-02-09T00:58:26","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T06:58:26","slug":"la-authorities-response-to-homeless-citizens-during-california-storms-dubbed-abysmal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23638","title":{"rendered":"LA authorities\u2019 response to homeless citizens during California storms dubbed \u2018abysmal\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Community<\/a> organisers have accused Los Angeles authorities of \u201cbold-faced lies\u201d and said the city\u2019s response to its unhoused population\u2002<\/a>during the recent catastrophic storms<\/a> has been \u201cabysmal\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite promises that extra aid would be available, contact with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) has reportedly been difficult, exacerbated by the fact that many seeking shelter<\/a> do not have phones or internet access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second of two powerful atmospheric rivers has battered the state of California since Sunday.<\/a> As conditions worsened some community organisers have been forced to take matters into their own hands, and even sometimes their own homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes following an announcement last week by LA<\/a> Mayor Karen Bass and the LAHSA, which promised \u201caugmented winter shelter operations\u201d to help the unhoused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four additional locations were allocated across the city; Mid Valley Senior Citizen Center, Lincoln Heights Senior Center, the South LA Sports Activity Center, and the Oakwood Recreation Center in Venice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new allocations provided a total of 291 extra beds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, the mayor\u2019s office said that LAHSA had activated six additional shelters for people experiencing homelessness \u201cin addition to the seven previously established winter shelters\u201d. An exact number of additional beds was not given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community organiser Carla Orendorff told The Independent that there were around 10,000 unhoused people in the area of San Fernando valley alone and that the idea of competing with others for such limited space was heartbreaking for some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One individual, she said, had told her: \u201cI don\u2019t have a chance and honestly getting my hopes up that way would kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting hold of a representative from the LAHSA via a public phone number \u2013 211 \u2013 was almost impossible, Ms Orendorff added. \u201cI can say from our experience … we never talked to an actual person, we were never able to get anyone inside. We tried for hours and hours each day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Independent has reached out to LAHSA for comment directly, and via the City\u2019s joint information centre on the ongoing storm. No response, via phone or email, had been received at the time of publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a press conference on Tuesday, Mayor Bass said she had spent the day surveying damage across the city, saying that those renting property were \u201cparticularly vulnerable\u201d and urged Angelenos to \u201ccheck on your neighbours\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the experiences that the chief and I had out there was the way in the neighbourhoods that were heavily impacted \u2013 we saw neighbours come out to make sure that people were okay,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a sentiment shared by Ms Orendorff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just a group of people who care about other people. We\u2019ve been doing this for a few years but we\u2019re not a nonprofit, we\u2019re just, you know, we operate out of donations and friends and community support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the severity of the weather and the scarcity of accommodation, Ms Orendorff \u2013 who lives in an RV \u2013 ultimately took people into her own home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with other mutual aid organisers, including her brother Anthony Orendorff, she also builds \u201cstorm kits\u201d for distribution to those in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Orendorff said the kits \u2013 which also contain items such as gloves, socks, hats, batteries, duct tape and clamps \u2013 are somewhat of a help to those who have been unable to access publicly provided shelter, but \u201care certainly not as good as a motel room\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In parts of the city on Wednesday, blue skies returned, though the storm is expected to continue impacting California<\/a> until Thursday or Friday. Clean-up operations are reportedly due to begin shortly, though Ms Orendorff remains sceptical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a disaster,\u201d she said, referring to the response. \u201cThere was no help from the city and for [authorities] to just boldface lie to the public that you can just call 211 and get a room, I think that gave us a sense of complacency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She continued: \u201cHomelessness is obviously the number one issue and I think most people, whether they know what to do or not, care and don\u2019t want people suffering in the streets, I do believe that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For the city to so disingenuously just placate the fears that people had that \u2018oh, yeah, they can just call a number\u2019… most [unhoused] people, you know, don\u2019t have phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Community organisers have accused Los Angeles authorities of \u201cbold-faced lies\u201d and said the city\u2019s response to its unhoused population\u2002during the recent catastrophic storms has been \u201cabysmal\u201d. Despite promises that extra aid would be available, contact with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) has reportedly been difficult, exacerbated by the fact that many seeking shelter do not have phones or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[1189,26495,1491,3097,4428],"class_list":["post-23638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-california","tag-catastrophic-storm","tag-homeless","tag-los-angeles","tag-rescue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23640,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23638\/revisions\/23640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}