Los Angeles has a homelessness crisis that has been going on for years. While politicians talk about solutions (we're looking at you, Eric Garcetti and Mike Bonin), Heidi Roberts and her husband decided to create one with Haaven Shared Housing. Since it opened in April 2018, they have taken 168 people off the streets (that's about 1 person per week) and have an 80% success rate (meaning people are still housed). Listen in as we talk about the full-frontal experience of living in Venice, CA, how housing isn't the solution to the homelessness crisis; there's more to it: Support. Taking care of people shouldn't be hard. We have the resources but seem to lack the political will to make the necessary change. People are suffering from addiction, untreated mental illness and, what they all have in common is trauma. After hearing from public officials that there was no housing, Heidi and her husband decided to create some. With the purchase of a 4-unit building, they were able to move 28 people in...and learned the hard way that housing wasn't the solution. Peer support and the right staff was the secret sauce.  We discuss how the crisis grew out of Mayor Villaraigosa's plan to revitalize DTLA with Staples Center and LA Live, removing from the city much of its affordable housing, which was never replaced. How big developer donors are rewarded with building contracts for the city's unhoused, instead of purchasing existing structures, leaving people on the streets while they wait for construction to be complete. Haaven can house people for $5,000/per person/per year; the city intends to spend nearly $500,000 per person. City and other organizations won't refer to shared housing because they call it "undignified". They also take issue with Haaven's policy of no drugs and alcohol on the premises (you can use elsewhere, just not on the property), saying that is a violation of personal rights. These misdirected ideologies of what they seem to believe is protecting the rights and choices of the unhoused are also what is keeping them on the streets, unsafe and at risk of violence, health crises and police detainment. Elected officials seem to be more interested in appeasing their donor base rather than serving the citizens, both homed and unhoused. There is a significant rise in crime and violence, including violence toward the unhoused. Encampments are run by gangs and Venice Beach is now known as Methlehem. Shared housing offers peer support, creates communities and families, and helps people succeed in sobriety and mental health stability. And it's a common sense solution that can be implemented quickly and at a reasonable cost to the city. 

You can find Heidi at https://www.haaven.org/

Episode recorded on 06/04/21

Episode released on 06/23/21

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Music: Shower Beer by GG Riggs