Living in your car in LA, on the rise

I have about 120 homeless families on my caseload at any given time. Currently 5 of those families are living in their cars. Some of the families are parked in the driveways of family members and friends, some are on city streets, and one is in a “Denny’s” parking lot. All of these families have […]

Homeless Memorial Day

Homeless Memorial Day I every year

saving on Welfaré

A CalWorks participant (welfare recipient) can save unlimited amounts of money for a downpayment on a home or deposit for an apartment or to start a business. CW61 must be reviewed with the EW and the money must be in a seperate untoiched account used specifically for that purpose. It’s now a Senate Bill. It […]

Dear Santa, I need gifts

More families are poor and homeless this year than have been in recent memory. Cash Aid just does not account for Holiday Gifts. Where can you turn? OPSANTA in North Hollywood and Pasadena California. The Jaycees (Jr. Chamber of Commerce_ in both cities have programs to collect every “Dear Santa” letter and deliver the toys […]

My favorite picture from the HomeWalk

Pictures from my visit to The Lodge on Skid Row

Sitting on the stoop of “The Lodge”, I see a red truck pull up and something shiny and silver emerges from a cracked down window. A frail, heavily accented Latin voice yells “You wannta a burrito?” as the car pulls to a stop. Suddenly the car is swarmed by grown men and women who want […]

testing the posting ability from the “crackberry”

Well darn, I can ppost from my phone, but not upload images. Someone should tell me if they make a WordPress App!

Pictures from Homewalk LA

The Kid and I in our Yellow Shirts

Housing the Homeless – How to, and what not to do

You suck! You are a pig and you break things and you are a disgrace to have in my building! or You are a nice person and I am glad to see you in the building. I asked you to come in today because of the hole in the hallways. I saw you punch the […]

Why are people homeless?

John Best showed me that there are several common factors in a Homeless person’s life. Often a person has more than one of these issues as an ingredient into their homelessness. mental illness – possibly undiagnosed physical illness poor relationship with family criminal history victim of crime alcohol addiction drug addiction member of street culture/street […]