Latest news with #LindseyHorvath
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
To tackle homelessness, Los Angeles moves to centralize its response
The request came in June. A staff member for Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath emailed the county's newly established Emergency Centralized Response Center, asking for a cleanup of a reoccurring homeless encampment along a rail line in the San Fernando Valley. Joshua Chung, an analyst with the Emergency Centralized Response Center, or ECRC, said he quickly got to work. He contacted outreach workers at nonprofits in the area to compile names of people living at the Northridge encampment. He then coordinated with multiple county departments to see if there was a bed available for those individuals, and if they'd qualify for special services because of health problems or drug addiction. It was all in preparation for the day in late July when crews would arrive to the train tracks and throw away tarps and tents, and remove a makeshift electrical line residents set up to siphon power from the grid. Bernice Saavedra said she and her fellow outreach workers at the nonprofit LA Family Housing had around a month before the cleanup to contact residents and find them help. Before ECRC, she said they often had just a few days. Sometimes only 24 hours. "The more time we have to engage, the more time we have to have thorough conversations," Saavedra said. "There's a better chance of getting people indoors." L.A. County's Emergency Centralized Response Center launched in January with a goal of better coordinating the various efforts among different government agencies and nonprofits to clean encampments, get people healthcare and into temporary or permanent housing. The dispatch center was established following a request from Supervisors Horvath and Kathryn Barger and is part of a larger stated effort to increase accountability and coordination when it comes to homeless services, including a new county homeless department that will launch next year. In the supervisors' motion requesting the response center, they said there previously wasn't one entity tasked "to oversee and direct daily operations for unhoused individuals across Los Angeles County" — no small problem when different county departments, federal agencies, state agencies and 88 cities are involved. Overlap and gaps in services were common. When an encampment popped up, officials said multiple agencies would receive requests for service and then act on their own, resulting in multiple outreach teams dispatched to the same location, without knowledge someone else had been there before. There were also jurisdictional issues. Sometimes, a state agency would clean an encampment on its property, but not notify the local agency that owned the adjacent property, allowing residents to move their encampment there, said Donald Holt, principal analyst with ECRC. Now, the county says ECRC overseas more than 150 outreach teams across 11 organizations and coordinates with multiple government agencies that offer housing and conduct cleanups to ensure they are working together. Horvath said the effort is particularly important given the investment the public has made to get people off the streets and the ongoing budget constraints facing all levels off government. "I am really grateful for all the ways we will now not only be able to deliver results but stretch those dollars further," Horvath said. "It wasn't until this center came together that that coordination was really put into action in the ways we all expected." Read more: The real story of how L.A. became the epicenter of America's homeless crisis Based in an office at the downtown Hall of Administration, center staff handle requests for service from elected officials, the public and government agencies and then coordinate cleanups and work to find housing, as well as needed medical care. In addition to eight analysts dedicated to managing requests for specific regions of the county, workers at the center include staff from the county's Housing for Health, Department of Mental Health, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and the Department of Military & Veterans Affair, among others. Chung, who previously worked at the nonprofit LA Family Housing, said finding housing for someone was once like a game of telephone. But with the government agencies that manage shelters now a few cubicles away, things have changed. "Now I can just go over and talk to our [staff member] Josh... and say 'Hey Josh can you see if this [bed] is available?" Chung said. "That would have taken me six hours." On a recent Tuesday, staff started the day in a meeting where they updated one another on requests for service, including instances where people were successfully moved into housing and others where the effort was still underway. Chung told a group of roughly 20 about a person with autism who was anxious about living in a congregate shelter and is requesting a private room. Chung said staff was working on finding such an accommodation and in the meantime has tried to get the person open to living in a shelter that has availability. Other staff members then chimed in to offer suggestions, including looking for family members or friends who might house them. Shortly after the meeting, Chung's supervisor Lisa Speights stopped by the cubicle of Maribel Lozano-Hernandez with the county's Housing for Health program to discuss a housing request that came in within the last 24 hours. "You mentioned that client can't go in until Monday?" Speights said. Lozano-Hernandez said that yes, that housing site was likely full until Monday, almost a week later, but she had luck elsewhere. "I called a different site and [they] can take her today," Lozano-Hernandez said. "Oh nice," Speights responded. She texted the homeless individual's outreach person with an update. Holt said ECRC also ensures when an encampment is located near multiple jurisdictions, representatives from those jurisdictions are present for cleanups. "We are bringing them all together," he said. "We are going to have one operation on the same day." That's what happened recently in the San Fernando Valley. The cleanup would show the benefits of coordination and challenges of making lasting change. Located along a dirt path on the northside of an in-use rail line, the encampment was on land owned by Union Pacific. Step over the tracks, to the south, Metrolink is the owner. Three weeks ago , outreach workers from LA Family Housing, arrived to speak with residents, remind them of the following day's cleanup and encourage them to sign forms to get into housing. Outreach workers had already been on site around five times and had already located housing options for some of the people living in roughly 10 tents and makeshift structures. Today, among the team there was a substance abuse specialist, a mental health specialist, as well as a worker who previously was homeless to provide emotional support. Residents Jose Duran and his partner Melanie Morales said they moved onto the streets a few months ago when they couldn't pay rent after Duran fell from a three story building and could no longer work construction. Outreach workers hadn't been able to find a bed for the couple, but learned information they hadn't before. Speaking as trains zoomed past, Duran said after he fell from a ladder, his foot became infected and he received skin grafts to fix it, but still needs another surgery. He pulled up his pants to reveal a bulging ankle and said he hadn't heard from his doctor about when he could get it fixed. "We have a medical group that can come help you," Saavedra told him in Spanish. "Thank you," Duran replied. The next day, workers swept through the encampment and moved people out. By 10:30 a.m., the encampment was gone. The dirt path on both side of the rail line was clean. According to a county spokesperson, workers removed "four makeshift shelters or tents and ten cubic yards of debris." Duran and Morales weren't housed that day and said they were told there wasn't beds currently available. While deciding what to do next, they waited in a parking lot behind the dirt path they called home a few hours before. They said cleanup crews didn't give them enough time and threw out many of their belongings, including a backpack that held a photograph of Morales' now deceased mother. "It was the only one I had," Morales said, holding back tears. Rachel Kassenbrock, the county spokesperson, said on the day of the cleanup ten people from the encampment weren't immediately able to be housed, but put on a wait list until beds became available, including Duran and Morales. In addition, she said four others were moved into interim housing that day, including Jose Quinonez. The day before the cleanup the 48-year old said he had spent two years on the streets, with drugs and marital problems contributing. He said he was excited about "starting a new life." "I want to fix myself," Quinonez said. "None of us want to be here." Two weeks later, the encampment had repopulated. Late Wednesday morning, there were about 10 tents and makeshift shelters adjacent to the rail line. As the temperature neared 90 degrees, one resident sweated as he stripped an electrical wire for copper to sell. Duran and Morales were there too, asleep inside an orange tent, a black tarp draped over it for shade. Kassenbrock, the county spokesperson, said ECRC is continuing to work with remaining residents to get housed. That hasn't yet included Duran and Morales, but Kassenbrock said since the cleanup an additional three people have moved inside. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
CBS News
6 days ago
- Climate
- CBS News
LA County Supervisors pass indoor heat ordinance to keep renters cool
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved an amendment to help renters living in unincorporated areas within the county stay cool at home. The board voted to require landlords to maintain a maximum indoor temperature of 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Supervisor Hilda Solis said it's not an air-conditioning ordinance, as landlords are encouraged to find other cooling mechanisms, like weatherizing windows and roofs and installing blackout curtains and ceiling fans. She said the indoor heat ordinance is meant to protect the most vulnerable residents living in older buildings in the unincorporated parts of the county. "Extreme heat as we know is very serious, in fact it's a growing public health threat …" Solis said. A 2023 Public Health study found that Los Angeles County is "increasingly experiencing higher temperatures and longer heat waves, leading to health and safety risks, heat-related illnesses, and worsened chronic illnesses." The ordinance also allows renters to install various cooling measures, blackout curtains, or window A/C units, without penalties from landlords. This part of the amendment is to be in effect within 30 days. "No one should be at risk for dying in their own home because it's too hot," Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said. By 2027, landlords will be responsible for ensuring an 82-degree indoor temperature threshold. This could be done through a variety of measures, including repainting the roof, installing shades, ceiling fans, or adding more landscaping. Under an amendment introduced by Supervisor Janice Hahn, an exception will be made for small property landlords and those who rent 10 units and under. They will initially only be required to maintain that temperature standard "in at least one habitable room." The deadline for full indoor household compliance for that group of landlords was extended to Jan. 1, 2032. Hahn said it will give smaller landlords "a longer onramp" to achieve the cooling goal. The amendment also requires staff to investigate additional funding sources to assist landlords in reaching the cooling goals. The unincorporated communities within Los Angeles County cover approximately 2,600 square miles, and include East Los Angeles, Florence-Firestone, and Hacienda Heights.
Los Angeles Times
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
L.A. County accidentally repealed its anti-incarceration ballot measure. Now what?
Los Angeles County leaders are scrambling to restore a sweeping racial justice initiative that voters accidentally repealed, a mistake that could threaten hundreds of millions of dollars devoted to reducing the number of people in jail. County supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to ask their lawyers to find a way to bring back the ballot measure known as Measure J, which required the county to put a significant portion of its budget toward anti-incarceration services. Voters learned last week that they had unwittingly repealed the landmark criminal justice reform, passed in 2020 in the heat of the Black Lives Matter movement, when they voted for a completely unrelated measure to overhaul the county government last November. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who spearheaded the county overhaul — known as Measure G — along with Supervisor Janice Hahn, called it a 'colossal fiasco.' 'This situation that has unfolded is enraging and unacceptable at every level. What has transpired is sloppy,' Horvath said Tuesday. 'It's a bureaucratic disaster with real consequences.' The county says it's looking at multiple options to try to get Measure J permanently back in the charter — which dictates how the county is governed — including a change in state law, a court judgment or a ballot measure for 2026. 'We cannot and we won't let this mistake invalidate the will of the voters,' Hahn said. County lawyers say the mistake stems from a recently discovered 'administrative error.' Last November, voters approved Measure G, which expands the five-person Board of Supervisors to nine members and brings on an elected chief executive, among other overhauls. What no one seemed to realize — including the county lawyers who write the ballot measures — is that one measure would wipe out the other. Measure G rewrote a chunk of the charter with no mention of anti-incarceration funding, effectively wiping out the county's promise to put hundreds of millions toward services that keep people out of jail and support them when they leave. The repeal will take effect in 2028, giving the county three years to fix it. 'I do agree that there's all kinds of reasons to be outraged, but the sky is not falling. Even if you think the sky is falling, it won't fall until December 2028,' said Rob Quan, who leads a transparency-focused good-government advocacy group. 'We've got multiple opportunities to fix this.' The mistake was first spotted last month by former Duarte City Councilmember John Fasana, who sits on a task force in charge of implementing the county government overhaul. The county confirmed the mistake to The Times last week, a day after Fasana publicly raised the issue to his unsuspecting fellow task force members. The measure's critics say the mistake adds credence to their arguments that the county overhaul was put together too hastily. 'It seems to be that if one has to go back on the ballot, it ought to be [Measure] G,' said Fasana, noting it passed by a narrower margin. Otherwise, he says, the county has set an unnerving precedent. 'It's almost like setting a blueprint to steal an election,' said Fasana, who opposed both the anti-incarceration funding and the government overhaul measures. 'You've got this way to basically nullify something that was passed by voters.' Some worry that putting either measure back on the ballot runs the risk of voters rejecting it this time around. Measure G faced significant opposition — including from two sitting supervisors — who argued an elected chief executive would be too powerful and the measure left too much of this new government ill-defined. It narrowly passed with just over 51% of the vote. The anti-incarceration measure also faced heavy opposition in 2020, particularly from the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, which spent more than $3.5 million on advertising on TV and social media. The measure passed with 57% of the vote. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled it unconstitutional after a group of labor unions — including the sheriff's deputies union — argued it hampered politicians' ability to manage taxpayer money as they see fit. An appellate court later reversed the decision. Measure J requires that 10% of locally generated, unrestricted L.A. County money be spent on social services such as housing, mental health treatment and other jail diversion programs. That's equivalent to roughly $288 million this fiscal year. The county is prohibited from spending the money on the carceral system — prisons, jails or law enforcement agencies. Derek Hsieh, the head of the sheriff's deputies union and a member of the governance reform task force, said the union had consulted with lawyers and believed the county would be successful if it tried to resolve the issue through a court judgment. 'A change in state law or running another ballot measure — it's kind of like swimming upstream,' he said. 'Those are the most expensive difficult things.' Megan Castillo, a coordinator with the Reimagine LA coalition, which pushed for the anti-incarceration measure, said if the group has to go back to the ballot, it will try to slash the language that it feels gives the county too much wiggle room on how funding is allocated. The coalition has clashed repeatedly with county leadership over just how much money is actually meant to be set aside under Measure J. 'If we do have to go to the ballot box, we're going to be asking for more,' she said. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who helped get the anti-incarceration measure on the ballot, said she felt suspicious of the error by county lawyers, some of whom she believed were never fully on board with the measure in the first place. 'I just feel like they're too good at their jobs for this error to occur,' said Hernandez, who said the news landed like a 'slap in the face.' County leaders have emphasized that the error was purely accidental and brushed aside concerns that the repeal would have any tangible difference on what gets funded. When Measure J was temporarily overturned by the court, the board promised to carry on with both the 'spirit and letter' of the measure, reserving a chunk of the budget for services that keep people out of jail and support those returning. That will still apply, they say, even if Measure J is not reinstated. The motion passed Tuesday directs the county to work on an ordinance to ensure 'the continued implementation of measure J' beyond 2028.
Los Angeles Times
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
LA County's charter reform accidentally repealed anti-incarceration ballot measure
Last November, voters approved a sprawling overhaul to L.A. County's government. They didn't realize they were also repealing the county's landmark criminal justice reform. Eight months later, county officials are just now realizing they unwittingly committed an administrative screw-up for the ages. Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn co-authored Measure G, which changed the county charter to expand the five-person board and elect a new county executive, among other momentous shifts. But nobody seemed to realize the new charter language would repeal Measure J, which voters approved in 2020 to dedicate hundreds of millions towards services that offer alternatives to incarceration. 'We can confirm that due to an inadvertent administrative error by a prior Executive Officer administration, Measure J was not placed in the County's Charter after its passage in 2020,' said County Counsel in a statement. 'As a result, when the voters passed Measure G, they repealed Measure J effective December 2028.' The mistake appears to stem from a failure by the county's executive office to update the county charter with Measure J after it passed in 2020. County lawyers then failed to include the Measure J language when they drafted the 2024 ballot measure. So when voters approved Measure G, they accidentally repealed Measure J, according to the county. The screw-up was first discovered by John Fasana, a former Duarte Councilmember who sits on the county's governance reform task force, which is tasked with implementing the government overhaul. He said he first raised the issue with the county in early June. 'Someone goofed,' said Fasana, who was appointed to the taskforce by Supervisor Kathryn Barger. 'I couldn't believe it when I saw it.' Megan Castillo, a coordinator with the Reimagine LA Coalition, which pushed Measure J to the ballot in 2020, said she was disturbed to learn last week that the fruit of years of advocacy would soon be wiped away accidentally. 'It shouldn't be undermined just because folks rushed policy making,' said Castillo. 'We know more voters were for Measure J than Measure G. It's disrespectful to the will of the people to find this could unintentionally happen.' Measure J requires that 10% of locally generated, unrestricted L.A. County money — estimated between $360 million and $900 million — be spent on social services, such as housing, mental health treatment and other jail diversion programs. The county is prohibited from spending the money on the carceral system — prisons, jails or law enforcement agencies. Castillo said she was worried the repeal would result in a 'deep economic fallout' for these programs with county money potentially diverted to costs required by Measure G, like the salaries of new politicians and their staff. Measure G bars the county from raising taxes meaning this money will have to come from elsewhere in the county budget. Castillo said she first brought the issue to the attention to deputies for Hahn and Horvath last week. 'They are shocked as well,' said Castillo. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who led the charge on Measure G, said in a statement a proposal was coming to correct the 'County bureaucracy's error related to Measure J.' 'This measure was the result of a hard-fought, community-led effort that I wholeheartedly supported—and remain deeply committed to upholding,' said Horvath. 'This situation makes clear why Measure G is so urgently needed. … When five people are in charge, no one is in charge, and this is a quintessential example of what that means.' Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who opposed the overhaul of the county charter, saw it a little differently. 'It also reinforces one of the key concerns I had about Measure G from the start. When major changes to the County Charter are pushed forward without sufficient time for analysis, public input, and transparency, mistakes become more likely. Oversights like this are exactly what can happen,' Barger said in a statement. 'This error could–and should–have been caught before voters were asked to make a decision.' Supervisor Hilda Solis said she was 'surprised and concerned' to learn about the error but was confident the funding envisioned by Measure J would 'continue unaffected.' The Times reached out to the other two supervisors and has yet to receive their responses. County attorneys said in a statement they were working with the executive office to 'address this situation' and ensure the executive office 'timely codified' charter amendments going forward. They emphasized that, despite the looming repeal of Measure J, the county will continue to align its budget with the goals of the measure. Derek Hsieh, head of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs and a member of the governance reform taskforce member, called the mistake a 'cluster—.' 'I think the voters and county employees would like to know when the Board of Supervisors knew about this mistake and what they plan on doing to fix it,' said Hsieh, who was an outspoken opponent of both Measure G and Measure J. The union, which represents sheriff's deputies, had spent more than $3.5 million on advertising on TV and social media to fight Measure J. The union had also joined other county labor unions to challenge the measure in court. 'There's absolutely no question both by the will of the voters and a decision by the California Supreme Court that Measure J is the law of the land,' said Hsieh. The screw-up became public Wednesday night at the task force's second-ever meeting. Fasana told his fellow members who had gatherered at Bob Hope Patriotic Hall downtown he had found 'a major issue.' The news created something of an uproar in meeting that was supposed to focus on more mundane bureaucratic matters. Some members said they wanted to wait to discuss it until everyone had been briefed on what exactly he was talking about. Others said they didn't understand how they could talk about anything else. 'To me all the work we're trying to move forward with stops because there's a problem —a significant, fundamental one,' said Derek Steele, who was appointed by Supervisor Holly Mitchell. 'We may actually need to take Measure G back to the people,' said Steele. ' We need to make sure we have a solve for this.' Both Mitchell and Barger opposed Measure G, arguing it had been put together too hastily and gave too much power to an ill-defined county executive. Sara Sadhwani, who was appointed to the task force by Horvath, said she found the accidental repeal of Measure J 'incredibly concerning,' but found the way the news had been delivered to the task force 'obstructive.' 'It raises so many questions for me and raises concerns about who is operating in good faith on this task forcem,' said Sadhwani. 'If this was a good faith effort, wouldn't we have agendized this issue, instead of dropping a bomb that people have no knowledge of.' The taskforce has asked for a report from the county's attorneys for their next meeting. Jaclyn Cosgrove contributed to this story.
Miami Herald
10-07-2025
- Miami Herald
Massive tree branch falls at summer camp and kills 8-year-old, California cops say
An 8-year-old died after a tree branch fell on him while at summer camp, California officials said. On July 9, the 8-year-old and a group of other kids and adults decided to get some shade under an oak tree at the camp in Calabasas, according to a news release by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. They were attending Camp Wildcraft at King Gillette Ranch, ABC News reported, citing authorities. The group, consisting of the child, an 11-year-old, a 5-year-old, a 22-year-old and a 73-year-old were sitting under the tree when they 'heard cracks,' deputies said. Then a 25-foot to 30-foot branch fell from the tree, landing on top of them, deputies said. Deputies arrived at the scene to find camp staff helping the group, the sheriff's office said. The 8-year-old was transported to a hospital, where he eventually died, deputies said. The 11-year-old had to be airlifted and was treated for a broken leg, the 5-year-old had cuts, the 22-year-old sustained bruising to his body and the 73-year-old got a concussion, deputies said. 'My heart is with everyone impacted by the tragic situation at King Gillette Ranch,' Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. Children as young as 4 1/2 years old can attend Camp Wildcraft, and middle schoolers can attend as junior guides, the camp's website said. 'Words cannot express the depth of our sorrow. Our hearts are with the child's family, friends, and all those affected by this unimaginable tragedy,' Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, which manages the park, said in a statement to KABC. Anyone with information is asked to call 323-890-5500, deputies said. Calabasas is about a 30-mile drive northwest from downtown Los Angeles.
