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# ‘Bring’it: Officials cite need for $12B
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/bringit-officials-cite-need-for-12b/
- Published: 2006-04-07T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:31:24.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Community, Downtown, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness

*Homeless advocates see plan as ‘new dawn’*

MIDNIGHT MISSION — To house the estimated 90,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County over the next 10 years, elected officials at the local, state and federal level must work together to identify $12 billion, much of which would go towards affordable housing, new shelters and enhanced services, according to a plan unveiled Thursday.

“My mother always says, ‘we need less talk and more action.’ Well, the time for action is now,” said City Councilman Richard Bloom, who was joined by, among others, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Sheriff Lee Baca for the release of a 10-year-plan to end homelessness, which was developed by a panel of experts over a three-year period under the banner of “Bring Los Angeles Home,” or BLAH.

Implementing the plan, detailed in a 116-page report, may seem daunting and expensive, but the costs of doing nothing are far greater, elected officials said, as they encouraged everyone — from the state Legislature to federal officials to the average citizen — to lend a helping hand to those in need.

“This is an investment, make no mistake,” Villaraigosa said during a news conference at downtown Los Angeles’ Midnight Mission, where just a few feet away dozens of homeless, including young children and their mothers, were gathered to receive food and shelter. “It’s one we’re willing to make together. We will not be the city with the ignominious distinction of being the homeless capital of America, but a city with a new model, a new plan, a city on the other side of midnight.”

Villaraigosa was referring to a song by recording artist Gil Scott-Heron in which the singer refers to midnight as being both the darkest hour, and the beginning of a new day.

“There will be some who say this is just another press conference, that it won’t do any good. I see it differently,” the mayor said. “For those cynics who see midnight as the darkest hour, I see it as the new dawn. This is the other side of midnight.”

The panel said initial funding for the joint city-county $12 billion plan to build 50,000 short-and long-term affordable housing units could come from a variety of sources, including Villaraigosa’s proposed $1 billion affordable housing bond issue and $150 million for permanent housing previously announced by the mayor and county officials.

Additional funds could come from tax and fee hikes, securing bonds and tapping into mental health service dollars allocated under Proposition 63, which was approved by state voters in 2004, according to the report.

The group also agreed that $5 could be leveraged from state and federal sources for every $1 the city and county spends on affordable housing.

Phil Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, promised federal funding — as long as the plan is implemented.

“On this issue of homelessness, partnership trumps partisanship,” said Mangano, who was named the nation's homeless czar by President Bush in 2002.

“In this issue, there is no ‘D’ or ‘R,’ we’re Americans coming together to end a national disgrace.”

City and county officials vowed that that past bickering over responsibility of the region’s burgeoning homeless population is over. Both government entities have promised to spend more than $150 million to improve housing for the homeless.

County supervisors approved Tuesday a $100-million initiative to create five regional, homeless stabilization centers throughout the county to help the down and out get back on their feet. The centers would each provide temporary shelter for 40 people, who would be able to access physical and mental health services as well as register for public assistance.

“The problem is acute in Skid Row, there’s no doubt about it, but that’s not the only place we have homelessness in this county,” said Yaroslavsky, who chided those who might take a “not in my back-yard” stance when homeless shelters are built in their neighborhoods.

“This is not a high-rise building, this is not a toxic waste dump,” he said. “These are human beings, and all of us should put our shoulders together and embrace these human beings.”

Yaroslavsky said that his office has been flooded with calls by residents who are opposed to any homeless shelter being built in their neighborhoods, proof that selling the BLAH plan will be difficult.

“We have to change the whole mentality around homelessness,” the supervisor said. “These are not ugly people. They are beautiful people, just like us who are one paycheck, one bankruptcy away from being homeless ourselves.

“All they need is a little help to take their broken lives and put them back together.”

The plan also recommended the creation of a homelessness council to coordi-nate services among county departments after the panel found that more than half of the homeless visited county emergency rooms in 2005.

The BLAH panel included representatives from more than 60 government, business, faith-based and nonprofit groups who didn’t always see eye-to-eye on issues during three years worth of meetings, but found a way to come together.

“We all must continue to play a powerful role to gain national, state and local support,” Bloom said. “Forming an effective, regional governing body will be key to our success … This plan is a comprehensive document with over 200 detailed recommendations that we are not in charge of implementing. The only way to do so is by working cooperatively as a region, getting everyone involved. That is the only way we are going to have an impact.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 7, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040706.pdf?ref=smdp.com)