UPCOMING M.E.N.D. CONFERENCE AFFORDABLE HOUSING and HEALTHY NEIGHBORHOODS

M.E.N.D. official web site - CONFERENCE COMING UP

http://mendpoverty.org/2016/9th-annual-mending-poverty-conference

How do affordable housing and health neighborhoods– including services from many nonprofit poverty agencies – fit together? Come to find out by joining us for the ninth annual MENDing Poverty Conference on Wednesday, June 7, 2016 from 8 am – 2 pm.

Our dynamic opening keynote speaker will be Mercedes Marquez, former Assistant Secretary in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and former General Manager of the LA Housing Department.  Ms. Marquez will provide a national perspective on affordable housing in the context of healthy neighborhoods. Rushmore Cervantes, the current General Manager of the LA Housing and Community Investment Department, will complement her presentation during the luncheon plenary by sharing his vision and expertise on housing strategies and perspectives in our region.

Trent Stamp, President and CEO of The Eisner Foundation, will deliver an opening welcome.
This year’s event will include concurrent workshops, each with an outstanding panel of speakers, on three key issues:

• What’s the Housing Mix in Your Neighborhood? Housing 101
• Who is Your Best Advocate?  Engaging Clients in Public Policy
• What Does Stable Housing Look Like? Models and Resources for Housing Stability

Registration fee, including breakfast and lunch, is $99 through Fri, May 27 and $119 thereafter.
The event is co-hosted by MEND and Valley Nonprofit Resources, and will be held at the MEND Center, 10641 N. San Fernando Road, Pacoima, CA 91331.

Conference sponsors to date include:

• Kaiser Permanente
• Union Bank
• Habitat for Humanity

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Since M.E.N.D. is one of our favorite places, and the charity gets the highest ratings, we thought those of you who are not homeless might find this interesting.

HOUSING RIGHTS CENTER - KEEP YOUR SERVICE ANIMAL - FEDERAL FAIR HOUSING ACT!

HOUSING RIGHTS CENTER


CALL 800-447-5977
FAIR HOUSING AND ANIMALS.

The federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) makes it illegal for landlords to REFUSE to make NECESSARY and REASONABLE accommodations, or changes, to their rules and policies for people with disabilities.


Allowing a disabled tenant to live with their companion or service animal is a common reasonable accommodation under the FHA.  This includes WAIVING and EXISTING "NO PET" POLICY for tenants with mental or physical disabilities who require an animal for medical purposes.


IT IS ILLEGAL FOR YOUR LANDLORD TO :
*****DENY YOU THE RIGHT TO LIVE WITH YOUR COMPANION or SERVICE ANIMAL


*****CHARGE YOU A PET DEPOSITE FEE OR OTHER SURCHARGE


*****NOT ALLOW YOUR COMPANION OR SERVICE ANIMAL TO BE WITH YOU IN COMMON AREAS.


CALL IF ANY QUESTIONS.


(We know of a landlord who threatened ALL tenants with eviction if they did not get rid of their dogs and cats, and most of them did even though they had been allowed for so long!)

CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE - FOR INFORMATION ON ELECTIONS and VOTING THE PRIMARIES

SECRETARY OF STATE - ELECTIONS   JUNE 7 2016 is the date!

Some of our African-American friends say no one will ever replace President Barak Obama, but replace him we must.  WE ENCOURAGE ALL HOMELESS, especially those in programs and shelters that allow for some stability, to VOTE!

PRINCE -NOTHING COMPARES TO U - PAIN KILLER ADDICTION - VIDEO

DAILY MAIL - PRINCE WAS THROWN OUT BY HIS FATHER AT AGE 12

We know that Prince hated his music up on YouTube but we also know that there are a lot of homeless fans of Prince who are totally upset that he may have died because of a pain killer addiction. So for now, we'll enjoy this concert video as long as we can!

SLATE : PRINCES DEATH = WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ADDICTION REALLY MEANS   byJerrold C. Winter

"The reporting on Prince’s death reveals how much we don’t understand about chronic pain management."

EXCERPTS:  We could start with a simple question: How does a drug know where to go? We know where we want them to go: aspirin to our aching joint; antibiotics to the site of infection; alcohol, caffeine, and THC to our brains. But the fact is that they don’t know where to go—once in the blood stream, they bathe virtually every cell in the body. A drug produces its effects by attaching itself to a structure of the cell called the receptor; receptors can be very selective, responding only to certain drugs and ignoring all the rest. Opiates reach receptors in the brain and spinal cord to dampen our experience of pain. But there are other opiate receptors. Some are in the gut, which can cause constipation. More ominously, there are opiate receptors in a primitive area of the brain, the medulla oblongata; when opiates suppress the activity of the medulla, breathing is slowed and may stop entirely. Death is the endpoint....

 

Writing in 1985, the late physician and professor of pharmacology John Morgan said that American physicians undertreat pain, based on an irrational and undocumented fear that appropriate use of opiates will lead patients to become addicts; Morgan called this fear “opiophobia.” In the years that followed, the medical profession came to recognize that many Americans were living and dying in pain, with cancer of greatest concern. The remedy provided was increased prescription of morphine and morphinelike drugs such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, the active principles in Percocet and Vicodin, respectively. There is no doubt that these prescriptions reduced the overall burden of pain. But in 2014 alone, prescription opiates and heroin were implicated in more than 28,000 deaths. In response to what has been called an epidemic, groups such as the Centers for Disease Control issued guidelines in March calling for stringent restrictions on access to opiates. The death of Prince is likely to add force to these calls....

       

IMPACT OF $15 MINIMUM WAGE - SUPPORT IT!

HUFF POST - 15$ MINIMUM WAGE IMPACT ON LIVES

EXCERPT: ... If it does pass, California will be the first state to adopt the $15 minimum wage that food service, retail, health care and other low-wage workers have been agitating for since 2012. That makes it a game changer for minimum wage politics. Certain cities have passed a $15 minimum wage, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, but so far no state has. Success in California could lead to success in other states.

Higher wages in California alone could boost a lot of people: Almost 18 million individuals are employed in the country’s largest state economy, and 118,000 of them make the minimum wage or less. Further, unlike federal law, California law does not permit employers to pay tipped workers a lower minimum wage. That means a hike to $15 would apply to the state’s tipped workers as well.
Housing costs are a particular problem for California’s low-income residents. Many parts of the state — particularly along the coast and in areas within commuting distance of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Silicon Valley — are facing a dearth of affordable housing. California rents are the second-highest in the country, after those in Hawaii.

SAN DIEGO NEEDS YOUR HELP TO ID CRIMINAL WHO SET HOMELESS MAN ON FIRE - SEE THE PICTURE - CALL IN LEADS!

UPDATE! POLICE IN SAN DIEGO THINK THERE MAY A BE A SERIEL KILLER OF HOMELESSTHE GUARDIAN - SAN DIEGO VIOLENT ATTACKS INVESTIGATION


PLEASE REPORT ANY SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY of VIOLENCE TOWARDS THE HOMELESS TO THE POLICE! 





DAILY MAIL - HUNT FOR MURDERER OF HOMELESS - SAN DIEGO MAN SET ON FIRE

DRAWING OF SUSPECT from DAILY MAIL UK - HE SET A KIND HOMELESS MAN ON FIRE and drove away emotionless in a black two-door Toyota truck with a black camper shell



OUR HEARTS BREAK at the news that another HOMELESS PERSON has been set on fire, and is not expected to live.


PLEASE CALL IN ANY LEADS.  This suspect is very dangerous.

Witnesses say that the homeless man was lured into the attacker's truck, doused in a flammable liquid and set on fire in a parking lot outside an Oak Park Rite Aid north of State Route 94 at around noon Sunday.

The victim, who is a much-loved member of the homeless community, sustained horrific injuries and is not expected to survive. He is believed to be called Julio, CBS 8 reported. 

Misti Cardenas, a friend of the victim, was with him when the attack happened. She said that the suspect left his truck to approach them, and asked her for water.

When Cardenas said she didn't have any, he stared at her with 'a weird expression,' she said. Then he turned his attention to Julio.

The two men then spoke for a little while, acting Lt. Manny Del Toro told The San Diego Union-Tribune, and the victim was lured into the truck.

It was then, according to both Cardenas and Del Toro, that he suddenly burst into flames.

'The victim went over and was being friendly with the guy and all of a sudden, he's on fire,' Del Toro said. 

'Julio was screaming,' Cardenas told CBS. 'I tried to touch him but the flames were too hot and he was just screaming, and the man just stood there watching him burn.'

Throughout it all, Cardenas said, the attacker was emotionless. 'The expression on his face was that he's either hurt somebody before or he's going to do it again,' she told NBC.

IS THE LIBRARY TRYING TO GET RID OF YOU? ARE YOU DISABLED? TIME TO FILE WITH THE ADA!

ADA GOV  Maybe it's not the library, but another place that is paid for by the tax payers and open to the public.

You do NOT NEED A SNAIL MAIL ADDRESS TO FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE ADA. You can use your library computer time or laptop to fill out a complaint on line and use e-mail and/or their toll free phone number to communicate.  If you have a camera or cell phone, you can possibly provide photos for evidence of your complaint.

We're aware that certain libraries feel they will get rid of homeless patrons by making life more PHYSICALLY DIFFICULT for them.  The problem is, these changes can mean making life more PHYSICALLY DIFFICULT for all patrons, homeless or not, especially senior citizens.

Here in Southern California we have heard of the following  DISCRIMINATIONS aimed at the homeless.



LIBRARY CARD DISCRIMINATION :  Patrons are being asked in some places not just for photo id's but also other mail coming to that address, such as a utility bill.  As a result, patrons who would be able to have 2 hours a day on the sign-in computers just like everyone else and get to sit down to use them have to use 15 minute computers which they get in line for, sometimes in and out of these lines for hours, so that they can use e-mail, write important letters, do job and housing searches and applications and so on.  It's maddening to try and complete an application in that time limit, fail, and loose your work.



ELIMINATING SEATING and WHEEL CHAIR ACCESS for 15 MINUTE COMPUTERS and/or OTHER USEFUL DATABASE COMPUTERS.  If you cannot stand for long - too damn bad.
We believe this is a flagrant violation of EQUAL ACCESS to all PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICES.  Many people who are not yet in wheelchairs have a difficult time for standing.



ELIMINATING COMFORTABLE and UPHOLSTERED SEATING because that encourages people to get comfortable and possibly sleep.  Or because "someone" complained that upholstery will get dirty or stinky if homeless sit on it.  (These people should try taking the bus and see what we have to sit on! Children wet themselves and the seats on the bus a lot!)



THREATENING TO THROW OUT A WHEEL CHAIR WHILE THE PERSON WAS IN THE BATHROOM on the basis that it was loaded with "other things."  Anyone who has taken MTA and seen people from all walks of life load on with their wheelchairs, with and without care givers, knows that a WHEELCHAIR is USUALLY USED to carry a LOT OF THINGS.  By the way, at this particular library a person MUST GET OUT OF THEIR WHEELCHAIR TO GET INTO THE BATHROOM.   (Just how UNCONSCIOUS can a HIGHLY EDUCATED LIBRARIAN GET?)

BANNING ALL DOGS...  If you have the paperwork stating that your dog is a SERVICE ANIMAL there isn't anything they can say or do to you that's legal unless the dog is pooping right on the floor, and even then it's a question.  Depending on where you live, a COMPANION ANIMAL is also considered a SERVICE ANIMAL, say if you have PTS and the animal prevents you from having a severe anxiety attack so that with it you can actually get out of the house.



CALLING THE HOMELESS "LOUD" while meanwhile there are LOUD CHILDREN, LOUD TUTORS, LOUD STORY READING and OTHER PROGRAMS, LOUD not homeless patrons such as NEAR DEAF people who are "understood" as they talk overloud, etc.



USING VOLUNTEERS TO "TALK" to (IDENTIFY and BUSINESS MIND) the HOMELESS, to let them know they are being watched.  Some of these people are also walking behind people on computers to spy on what we sites they are viewing.



WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO FILE ADA COMPLAINTS!  YOU MAY BE HELPING MANY PEOPLE, NOT JUST YOURSELF!

BURBANK BLESSING - BURBANK TEMPORARY AID CENTER (BTAC) NEW VOALA WORK TRAINING PROGRAM FOR THE HOMELESS

BTAC - BURBANK TEMPORARY AID CENTER

SHOWERS, LAUNDRY, SACK LUNCHES, FOOD BANK, CLOTHES...

1304 West Burbank Blvd
Burbank CA  91506

(818) 848-2822

OPEN MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY
9 AM - 12 PM
and
1:30- PM - 5:00 PM

CLOSED HOLIDAYS

NEW WORK TRAINING PROGRAM FOR THE HOMELESS VOALA WORK TRAINING FOR THE HOMELESS - NEW  !!!

VOALA will provide Participant-Level Case Management for:

• Employment Services
• Job Readiness Training
• Resumes
• Job Coaching
• Workforce Activities
• Legal Referrals
• Housing Referrals
• Health Care Referrals
• Substance Abuse Referrals
• Follow-Up Services

If you are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless and are interested in employment services, please contact Julie Smith at (818) 848-2822 ext. 106.

"The unemployed, the financially challenged, the hungry, the homeless.

It used to be these terms described other people in other cities. Today they refer to our neighbors.

There are thousands of families in need of assistance right here in Burbank. Looking for a meal, a shower, a bus token. Who can they expect to lean on while they get back on their feet?

Founded in 1974, the Burbank Temporary Aid Center has been providing individuals and families, the working poor, crime victims, senior citizens, and the homeless with the short-term emergency assistance they need to live with dignity."

ORANGE GREY and BLACK BUTTERFLY

OCCUPY WALLSTREET BACKS BERNIE SANDERS FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES - the 99% MOVEMENT

CNN OCCUPY WALL STREET ENDORSES BERNIE SANDERS - NEW YORK PRIMARY

excerpt on the 99% movement :

"This is the place where the message of income inequality resonated across the country and across the world -- it's where it really began," said "People for Bernie" co-founder and Occupy activist Winnie Wong. "He's bringing it back home."

In Sanders and in his campaign, the more mainstream elements of Occupy Wall Street have found an ideological ally. The Vermont senator's laser focus on economic issues are a big draw, local organizers said, but they also delight in his affection for the shoe-leather activism of past generations.

"Canvassing and using apps to get people to vote and all that microtargeting stuff, that's important, but so is marching in the streets," said Charles Lenchner, who joined with Wong after efforts to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the presidential race fell flat. Their "People for Bernie" popularized the "Feel the Bern" hashtag, a potent organizing tool and, nearly a year after its launch, a world-famous meme.

BERNIE SANDERS and THE HOMELESS - CONSERVATIVES DON'T GET IT! HOMELESS ARE ON THEIR OWN WHEN THE NATIONAL GUARD USES THE ARMORIES! OUR OPINION

We've come out as supporters of Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

We've seen a number of web sites post on his campaign focusing on the unfortunate time that a rally for his campaign used a homeless shelter and the homeless had to go elsewhere.  These posts, dwelling on this time, are for the most part very conservative, focusing on anything to bring Sanders down, to repeats of the same story.  Yes it happened.  There are also stories circulating from a year or so back about his personal generosity towards individual homeless.

What a lot of people don't get is that homeless are NEVER guaranteed a spot for the night at shelters that are part of the United States government military, the very popular NATIONAL ARMORIES for the National Guard.

Here in Southern California, even in the coldest and rainiest weather, if it's a training weekend, that shelter is closed, and people who stay there must stay outdoors, perhaps up all night at bus shelters, or if real lucky, a tolerant all night diner.  Homeless people who try to shelter in cold weather shelters who have nowhere to go may also find these weekends to be when they are subject to local police forces harassing them.  Women are more vulnerable to rape.  Yet, with no other place to rent from, various charities and governmental agencies do use these locations for the COLD WEATHER SHELTERS.  Then, usually between the 15th and 31st of March, the homeless who have not been taken into a YEAR ROUND SHELTER are on their own, outdoors, or if they are lucky, in a vehicle.

So, though it's unfortunate that Bernie's campaign people did use the shelter for a Bernie Rally, we think this is forgivable.

REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN VOTE even if on the street, in a program, without a permanent address.

THE PRIMARY IN CALIFORNIA IS JUNE 7 2016.

And if you do not vote in the primary, and Bernie is still a candidate, you can vote for him in the actual presidential election, either as a representative of the Democratic Party, or BY WRITING IN HIS NAME.

SECRETARY OF STATE- CALIFORNIA - PRIMARY ELECTIONS

SLUM LORDS ALLOW BED BUGS- TRASH- MOLD- COCKROACHES - LIVE WITH IT OR GO HOMELESS?

By Daniel Ross VICE.COM - UNIHABITABLE LANDLORDS PUSH OUT LOW INCOME TENANTS

EXCERPTS

 

Last November, the tenants of the Madison Hotel, a 220-room residential hotel in downtown Los Angeles, sued the property owners for conditions they described as "untenantable." Among the complaints listed: Trash wasn't being collected within the building, leading to a cockroach infestation; the elevator frequently broke and wasn't fixed; the communal TV room and lobby were stripped of furniture; mold grew up the walls; there was a bedbug infestation; and the landlord allegedly threatened to forcibly remove certain tenants, some of whom said they were harassed about their sexual orientation or their disabilities.

The tenants who sued—there were 15, most of them elderly, disabled, or military veterans—hoped that a lawsuit would make the Madison Hotel, which has some of the last affordable housing units in downtown LA, habitable again. But so far, it hasn't.

"Essentially, for the last month and a half, the owners have ignored that there's a lawsuit," said Jeanne Nishimoto, attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. "They weren't even turning on the heat in the building when it was very cold. And it's an all-concrete building—you can guess how cold it gets in there." (William Holdings, LLC, one of the defendants in the law suit, declined to comment for this story.)

CONNECT THE DOT BUTTERFLIES FOR OUR HOMELESS CHILDREN

HOMELESS TO JAIL, FOSTER HOMES, HOSPITALS? : THAT's WHERE THEY JUST LEFT!

LA TIMES HOMELESS TO JAIL, FOSTER HOMES HOSPITALS?  full article

The homeless services institutions cannot effectively combat much less eradicate homelessness" in the face of the enormous in-flow, said Phil Ansell, a top social services administrator heading the county's homeless initiative.

Thursday's meeting was one of 18 the county has called to develop a plan to fight homelessness, which increased 12% countywide over the last two years, encompassing 44,000 people living in rattletrap vans and unsightly encampments across the region.

The city of Los Angeles recently announced plans to declare a state of shelter emergency. The county's plan, due in February, is being developed in concert with the city, which has its own blueprint process underway.

SHOULD LA MAKE SKID ROW A REFUGEE CAMP? IGNORANT OPINIONS? OP ED ON HOW LA SHOULD SPEND ITS 100 MILLION ON HOMELESS EMERGENCY

 

Wes Bausmith / Los Angeles Times is editor of this roundup

LA TIMES OP ED - 100 MILLION FUND

 

EXCERPTS

Ruth Hollman is the founder and executive director of SHARE! the Self-Help And Recovery Exchange. www.shareselfhelp.org  says Focus on people, not buildings.
(Our opinion is that SSI and SSDI are often not enough to afford rent without LOW INCOME HOUSING.)

 

Mark Ryavec is president of the nonprofit Venice Stakeholders Assn. says
Transitional housing or a bus ticket?

(Our opinion is that bus tickets to send people back to where they came from won't work.  These people often do not have family or others with deep pockets who can or will care for them THERE.)

Mollie Lowery is director at Housing Works and a longtime advocate for the homeless says
Not just money but political will...
 

AMY WINEHOUSE - REHAB - LINKS TO AA and CA ON OUR SIDEBAR

Check our sidebar for useful links including SUPPORT GROUPS and TWELVE STEP PROGRAMS, VOTING, and other NATIONAL INFORMATION!

I SURVIVED LA FAMILY HOUSING VALLEY SHELTER T-SHIRTS FOR SALE!

HAVE YOU CHECKED THE DATE ON THE CALENDER?

OK it's April Fools Day, there are no t-shirts for sale, BUT WE ARE EAGER FOR SOME TESTIMONIALS FROM THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE PASSED THROUGH LOS ANGELES FAMILY HOUSING, especially the soon to be torn down VALLEY SHELTER.  (New building in the works.)

We know about all the PR disguised as JOURNALISM going on in the DAILY NEWS, The Jewish Journal, and elsewhere, and we hear a LOT on the street, very different stories than what's in the news.  So use COMMENTS, which is turned on so that you can do so without having a social networking account or G-mail... We will change the names of anyone who sends in their TRUE EXPERIENCE to us to cover your butt!