Homes in the City, Not on the Streets

We see them every time we are waiting at a stop light, getting on or off the freeway, the ones with the cardboard signs. We see them pushing shopping carts, loaded with their life’s possessions or just sitting at bus stops, not waiting for the bus. Our city is bursting with homeless people, thousands of them chronically so, some for just a short period, many veterans and too many children. They are not just on skid row or Venice Beach. They are everywhere, throughout the county, in urban and suburban areas, in Hollywood and also in the Valley. They are the homeless, and we see them.

Here are the facts. California has 12 percent of the United States population, but nearly 22 percent of the national homeless population. 62 percent of homeless Californians are unsheltered, meaning they literally sleep on the streets every night. Fourteen percent of the homeless are veterans, and 20 percent are families.

Here in Los Angeles, there are nearly 60,000 men, women and children who live on the streets.  Why?  One major reason is the cost of living.  The average 2-bedroom, 1-bath apartment rents for $1,523 per month according to RealFacts. To afford that apartment, a family would need to earn $60,920 a year, if they are to spend a third of their income on housing. That means a full-time wage earner would have to make $29.29 per hour, to afford rent - far more than many Angelenos earn.

We at Valley Beth Shalom have opened our eyes to this issue. While we have a proud tradition of helping the needy through our food bank, and through relationships with shelters and service organizations, we have come to believe that we can’t solve this problem with aid.

That’s why as a community, we’ve come to support SB 391, the California Homes and Jobs Act, which has passed through the state senate and is now under consideration in the assembly.

Average incomes for truck drivers, social workers, child care workers, most restaurant workers and construction workers are inadequate to support that two-bedroom apartment, based on income data from the California Employment Development Department. As a result, families cobble together living arrangements that they can’t afford. They work multiple jobs or double up with relatives.  Good jobs, dignified jobs, just don’t pay enough anymore to support a family. Even if the minimum wage was hiked to $15 an hour, as one city councilman has suggested, it would only get us halfway to affording that apartment. In addition, we know that one job loss or medical problem, one car breakdown or needy relative can unravel their whole household sending that family into a tailspin and landing them on the street.

While the state has begun to address this gap by mandating an increase in the minimum wage, housing will remain unaffordable for tens of thousands in Los Angeles. And the state’s commitment to building affordable housing has waned now that bond money from two housing bond measures has ended and the redevelopment agencies, which were required to allocate 20 percent of funds to affordable housing, were closed in the state’s budget crisis of 2012.

We support SB 391, the California Homes and Jobs Act, and so should you. The bill would institute a $75 recordation fee on real estate transactions other than the sale of property. It is expected to raise an average of $500 million annually that will be used to build or refurbish affordable housing throughout the state. By passing this bill, the state will be able to leverage federal and private funds through matching, which will otherwise be lost.

We are joining a wide array of business, labor and nonprofit organizations that recognize the urgency of this legislation so we can address the dire need for affordable housing in our communities. From the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and the County Labor Federation, AARP, to the United Way, veteran’s and children’s advocates we all support this effort.

It is not enough for our community to service the outcomes of injustice.  We can never feed all those who are hungry; nor can we clothe all those who are naked. We must also move upstream, to the headwaters in which these injustices find their power. Only by changing the laws that shape our society - that allow our poor to go hungry and our citizens  to turn a blind eye to those who shelter in the underpass - can we truly fulfill the prophetic call to mutual redemption.

This bill is the only one being considered this year that could create or find housing for thousands of Californians.. The bill specifically works with the population who rely heavily on emergency rooms, jails, and emergency shelters whose overuse destabilize the social safety net. SB391 will help stabilize the vulnerable population who use these systems. The bill’s funds will be used to help both working middle class families, but also the development of rapid re-housing initiatives, transitional and permanent rental units, and other housing opportunities - all of which target directly the vulnerable homeless population. This is the last and best effort of our legislators to create affordable housing that helps all of Californian’s, including the homeless. If this bill dies, then the hope for affordable housing dies in California.

The other day I was taking my kindergarten-age daughter to school at our synagogue.  We passed a homeless man sleeping at the bus stop. She asked me if that man had a home, and I said no.  She asked me if we have to help him because once we were like him, poor and homeless slaves in Egypt. I said, “that is exactly why.” We cannot let the parks and sidewalks of Los Angeles become the fleshpots of Egypt. It is not enough for us to provide meals at shelters or a word of comfort. We have an obligation to change the conditions of the market with our mighty hand and outstretched arms in order to make it possible for hard-working people to live in our city.

We urge you to learn more about SB 391 and to let your Assembly member know you support it. We’ve met with representatives in our congregation’s catchment and we encourage you to schedule a meeting with your representatives to let them know that you are paying attention to this vote. A handful of Assembly Democrats have not yet committed to voting for the bill, which needs a two-thirds majority to pass, and their votes are needed to get this to the governor’s desk.

That won’t happen unless each of us lends our voices and says, “not in my city, not in my home, not on my watch, will I let injustice be the theme of being.”