HOMELESSNESS IN THE NEWS - SO IS SKYROCKETING RENT - PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER

Hello Friends!
We've been hearing the news, just like you, about funds going to the remedy for homelessness.  Sometimes we even OVERHEAR this talk all around us.  What it comes down to is that rents are so high people can't move like they used to in Southern California.  Building tear downs put people on the street.  PEOPLE LOOSE THEIR SECTION 8 VOUCHERS BECAUSE THEY STILL CAN'T FIND AN AFFORDABLE PLACE before time runs out.  The millions in homeless related services and the construction of new buildings sounds impressive, until you realize that the numbers of people waiting for these is so high, well, it was once said that if tomorrow housing was provided for the HOMELESS, an entire new town would have to be built.

It's is NO LONGER TRUE that homeless people are "all" mentally ill, or disabled, or on drugs, or addicts, or criminals, or just out of prison.  IT IS TRUE THAT IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR DISABILITY, homeless in shelters are pressured to "go mental." when their other medical issues won't do it.

So called "Advocacy," lawyers seem to be chasing ambulances around homeless shelters and services. Programs see applying for and getting SSI as the key to income and housing.  Don't be fooled by those who say it is only a matter of months.  It can take years and many tries.

THE PROFESSION OF PSYCHOLOGY is supposed to be about helping you get well, not condemning you to the mental illness stigma.  So many of those working for county mental health and other facilities are pressured by shelters.  If  you have a client and  you really care and they come to you and say that they are going to be thrown out onto the street if they are not "compliant" with a shelter director's command that they "go mental," what does this "professional" do?

As a matter of HEALTH, no one should be homeless.  So what do the nurse practitioners and doctors in the system do when someone is or is going to become street homeless?  Help them find a job?

We just want all of you HOMELESS to know that WE KNOW, WE CARE.  We hope this blog can help  you!  We know there is a lot to sort through.

WHAT IS A "CASE MANAGER" ??? OFTEN NOTHING MORE THAN A PERSON WHO FILLS OUT and PROCESSES PAPERWORK WITHOUT SOCIAL WORKER EDU or SKILL IN DEALING WITH DISTRESSED PEOPLE

We've experienced it and we hear about it all the time...


"Case Managers" who hate the people they deal with, hate their jobs, are mean spirited, are out to trip you up, screw you out of the housing you waited years for.  "Case Managers" who could be replaced by ROBOTS, since they long ago lost their hearts.  "Case Managers" who are beyond burned out; they just don't give a crap about what happens to you.


NOT JUST AT SHELTERS.  BUT AT SECTION 8, GR, and other so called DPSS AGENCIES.


Now they have the job, they hate it, it's near impossible to get them fired, and guess what, YOU CAN COMPLAIN and ASK THAT YOURS BE REPLACED!


WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR CASE MANAGER STORIES FOR PUBLICATION HERE AT EXPOSEHOMELESSNESS.BLOGSPOT.COM


Send us a comment.  If you want to be published without being identified or linked to you, let us know at the top of the comment!

THANKS

ANTELOPE VALLEY in SECTION 8 : ARE POLICE VIOLATING RIGHTS? ARE CITIZENS or LANCASTER GOVERMENT RACIST?

CITYWATCH - BIG TROUBLE IN THE LITTLE ANTELOPE VALLEY Written by Bill Boyarsky in August 2013, reporting on the Community Action League, which has gone to battle with the Lancaster - Palmdale area, which has become a Section 8 haven.

EXCERPT:

"In the late 1990s, African-American and Latino families arrived, many from black and Latino South Central Los Angeles, for the lower housing prices and freedom from violent, gang-dominated streets. By 2010, whites were a minority in Lancaster and neighboring Palmdale. Among the newcomers were poor people who rented homes and apartments with the help of a federal program paying a portion of their rent, commonly known as Section 8. Most of the renters were African-Americans. The number of black Section 8 renters doubled from 510 in 2000 to 1,119 in 2004 and rose to 1,530 in 2008...

Section 8 renters were particular targets of Lancaster city government, the county board of supervisors and the sheriff’s department. 

With money allocated by the city and the county supervisor representing the area, task forces of up to 15 sheriff’s deputies and housing inspectors raided Section 8 homes, ostensibly acting on tips that illegal drugs were present or fraud was being committed. But really, they were aiming to terrorize residents into moving. Officers stormed into homes and searched them without warrants. They rifled through chests of drawers, went through belongings, threatened children with arrest and obtained the names and addresses of Section 8 recipients so they could watch their homes. Housing authorities tried to evict a woman suffering from stage 4 cancer who had her daughter and granddaughter stay with her at nights. She was accused of having unauthorized tenants. But higher authorities permitted her to stay. ...

read the whole article at the link.

*****

OUR OPINION:

There is no good reason for any law enforcement to go through a person's belongings unless they are suspected of a crime and there is a search warrant.
We feel sure that if a person is suffering and needs someone to stay with them because they are disabled - and many Section 8 voucher holders are - that telling the Section 8 people you are very ill, in pain, or otherwise in need of help, and that a family member or friend needs to be with you should eliminate the issue.  Many disabled people also have paid care givers, some paid by the government to be there.  A family member is usually not paid.

It becomes an issue when the person has MOVED IN without authorization.  That means they no longer live somewhere else and their belongings are there with them, not a suitcase but all of it.    Section 8 apartment living does not mean that you will never have guests or that you will never have a boyfriend or marry.  The Section 8 apartment is there for you to LIVE in, not to be STORED in.
It is not up to local law enforcement to check this out.  SECTION 8 HAS INSPECTORS to come out to inspect.  Landlords sometimes have leases that allow them to charge more for an apartment based on number of occupants and the rent increase MUST be approved by Section 8 first...

If you are a Section 8 holder, just be open with your case worker about your changing needs.  We know people who just write a letter stating something like "I am having surgery and will be in the hospital for a few days and then my mother is coming to be with me until I can get around."

 

CITY OF SANTA MONICA HOMELESS PAGE - SECTION 8 and HOMELESS COUNT 2014

 City of Santa Monica would like you to cooperate with Zero Waste and report any coyotes you see.

The Master Wait List for Affordable Housing Programs is now CLOSED.    The City of Santa Monica Housing Division received over 33,000 applications in 35 hours for the Master Wait List for all Affordable Housing Programs offered by the City including the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. According to self-reported data from applicants, 3,919 of those who applied are Santa Monica residents, 173 of whom are veterans. While the City of Santa Monica’s website experienced some technical challenges, the Housing Division believes that 33,943 applicants is a more than adequate pool to make use of program funding. According to the Division’s policies and Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) regulations, closing the waiting list is permitted if there is an adequate pool of families to utilize the programs.     Santa Monica Gov - Homeless Services  follow the links tot their "partners."

HAS A SECTION 8 LANDLORD ASKED YOU FOR CASH? A BRIBE TO GET INTO AN APARTMENT OR CASH IN ADDITION TO YOUR RENT TO STAY?

We're hearing about new Section 8 voucher holders desperately looking for apartments and encountering landlords who are asking them for cash in addition to money they would get from City of LA, County of LA, City of Burbank...  We mean cash you'll never see again.

Section 8 voucher holders KNOW THIS IS NOT LEGAL but are afraid of loosing their vouchers that they waited so long for if they do not find housing.

They know that if they get the landlord in trouble they will not get the apartment and other Section 8 tenants renting from the same people could also have trouble.  NO ONE WANTS TO GO BACK TO THE STREET.

SECTION 8 HOUSING BADLY HURT BY FEDERAL SPENDING CUTS - LOS ANGELES COUNTY MAY ELIMINATE VOUCHERS OR RAISE RENTS

FEDERAL SEQUESTER AND SECTION 8 IN LA - DAILY NEWS link to full article.

"City and county officials are in Washington D.C. this week lobbying to try to soften the blow of the cuts, pushing for permission to increase rents so they don't have to throw most recipients off the program altogether."

"Los Angeles has the largest homeless population in the U.S.," he added. "We've put a lot of resources into addressing that, and made progress, but much of it will be lost because of these enormous cuts."

"HACLA's Section 8 program director Peter Lynn said the agency is reaching out to landlords to see if they can negotiate rents downward, but he conceded this might be difficult."



WE KNOW PANIC HAS ALREADY SET IN.  THIS IS A TERRIBLE BLOW FOR MOST SECTION 8 HOUSING VOUCHER HOLDERS.  It's very difficult to find housing that is below market rates and accessible to decent public transportation.  We can hope for a miracle...

LOS ANGELES FAMILY HOUSING - BITTER RESIDENTS USING FACEBOOK AND TWITTER TO GET THEIR EXPERIENCES OUT THERE

According to our source, bitter residents and ex residents of LOS ANGELES FAMILY HOUSING have set up Facebook and Twitter accounts to get their real experiences to funders about life at the shelter. Bad experiences living at the shelter as well as with the management at Palos Verde apartments, provoked these people into trying to stand up for themselves. Our source says that funders are kept unaware of what life is like at the shelter. Complaints range from other residents to case management. Our source tells us that WEST VALLEY MENTAL HEALTH may separate itself from the shelter due to the recent scandal at the Palo Verde apartments where 35 residents there on their first section 8 voucher where told to give their vouchers back and accept Shelter Plus instead. Since we don't use Twitter or Facebook at this time, we are unable to verify any of this.  this.

IS THAT SECTION 8 VOUCHER YOURS OR NOT? PALO VERDE APARTMENTS SCANDAL HEATING UP - RESIDENTS JERKED AROUND - LINK TO HOWARD BERMAN'S OFFICE HERE!

OUTRAGEOUS! BUT THEN WHAT CAN WE EXPECT DEALING WITH MEGALOMANIACS WHO ARE GOING TO REINVENT THE LAW AS THEY GO?

We've learned that some residents of the Palo Verde Apartments in Sun Valley, commonly refered to as "Glen Oaks," where a number of residents of Los Angeles Family Housing shelter and other programs were placed thanks to CITY OF LOS ANGELES SECTION 8 VOUCHERS or various mental health programs including COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES were told to give back their vouchers or they have 30 days to go find somewhere else to live. Let's say it again: These people are NO LONGER HOMELESS having made it into the building using section 8 vouchers but according to management, IF THEY GIVE UP THEIR VOUCHERS UNDER THREAT OF 30 DAYS NOTICE they get to stay. Then they get to pay rent directly. IF THEY DON'T GIVE UP THEIR VOUCHERS they will be EVICTED, repeating the cycle of homelessness.

So apparently a non profit that exists to "end the cycle of homelessness" and which receives donations from numerous donors, and accepts funds from various governmental sources is not fulfilling their mission statement. Instead they are brain fucking.

(Are they hoping to get the stat of having placed TWO homeless people into housing with ONE VOUCHER?)

We want to remind everyone involved that homeless people and once homeless people do have CIVIL RIGHTS and we strongly urge you to contact the MAYOR, who makes many photo-op stops at the shelter, HOWARD BERMAN (we've linked to his information and a map showing these issues are occuring in his district), HUD, FAIR EMPLOYMENT and HOUSING of the SAN FERNANDO VALLEY, as well as lawyers. In fact calling City of LA Section 8 is probably a first step, but with so little time and these frightening intimidating TACTICS, calling all of them is the next thing to do.

(Go to the bottom of this blog for the link beneath our YouTube station that will give you the names and addresses of all your politicians!)
We've learned from multiple sources that PANIC and BITTERNESS SET IN RIGHT AWAY. SECTION 8 VOUCHER HOLDERS HAVE ALREADY GONE THROUGH THE PAPERWORK AND APPROVAL PROCESS with the CITY OF LOS ANGELES or the COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES. THESE PEOPLE MOVED IN ALREADY. THEY ARE IN THE APARTMENTS USING THE FURNITURE, BEDDING, TOWELS, AND BODY LOTION DONATED BY IKEA! THEY ARE PAYING THEIR RENT PORTION. THEY WERE TOLD THEY HAD TO STAY A YEAR TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF SECTION 8 PROGRAMS.

WHO IS PLAYING GOD - GIVING AND TAKING AWAY THIS TIME? (We've heard some names. Should we break the news or let the press? Or will LAFH continue to depend on the yellow journalism of those Reporters who went on a little tour and were told humanitarian tales , those reporters that never report anything but the do good feel good side of the rotten story?)

WHO IS SCREWING WITH THE MINDS AND THE HEALTH AND WELFARE OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH EMPTY PROMISES?

Who is only interested in mortgages for buildings that were not constructed on solid business principles? Who only cares about statistics rather than human beings that non profits claim to serve. Who only cares how they look to donators and HUD? Is it true they just want to be in good with HUD to break ground for yet another building? Who actually expects people to give their vouchers back in order to pay the building rent directly? Who will these turned in vouchers be given to next?

Some of these previously homeless residents lived in shelter hell conditions with promises being made to them that if they were good campers they would reach the goal of housing. Some of these people waited for much longer than a year till the Section 8 program was unfrozen. Some were jerked around about receiving RAPID REHOUSING funds for security deposits. Then Rapid Rehousing funds were given out indiscriminately to management favorites - thousands to certain individuals - no money to others. These previously homeless residents were told that their deposit money would go with them when they move, that if they put a year in at "Glen Oaks," they could then go ahead and move into a Section 8 apartment elsewhere.

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS!

UPDATED! A DISASTER OF PLANNING ! LA FAMILY HOUSING AWARDS THE KEYS TO GLEN OAKS APARTMENTS IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS

UPDATE : BELOW IS THE ORIGINAL POST

Promises were made. Some promises were kept.

This week final decisions were made about which homeless sheltered at Los Angeles Family Housing and other County of Mental Health Programs will live at GLEN OAKS.

LA Family personnel, wearing their blue T-shirts, were there to oversee the hanging of blinds and installation of furniture. There are 60 units and by Christmas most of them will be lived in, leaving vacancies that the LA Family Housing wait list people will quickly take. We know that many residents have waited over a year, even two or three years, to get those keys, under threat of being terminated the whole time.


We're waiting to hear from new residents about their experience living at GLEN OAKS.

How involved in your personal life will employees (case management) of LA FAMILY HOUSING be? If you have problems with other residents will they be involved in the resolution? What do you have to do to get kicked out? (We hate to bring that up!)

We wish the best to all of you who have come this far to get housing. We hope you will be happy, healthy, and see this residency as a stepping stone to greater independence and the kind of life you really want to live!

By the way, word on the street is that LA FAMILY HOUSING has just bought another building but is still claiming they have no money to provide promised deposit money for residents moving into Section 8 and other housing! Right!

HERE IS THE UPDATE! SHAMEFULLY and ALMOST UNBELIEVABLY, THE GLEN OAKS MOVE IN HAS TURNED OUT TO BE A DISASTER IN PLANNING! A GOOD NUMBER OF RESIDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN LIVING IN SHELTER CONDITIONS WAITING TO BE MOVED, TOLD IT WOULD BE OCTOBER, NO AUGUST, NO IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS 2011, MOVED TO GLEN OAKS, but before they could get comfortable or pop a champagne cork in celebration, THEY WERE TOLD THEY HAD NOT BEEN APPROVED AND WERE MOVED BACK TO THE SHELTER! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? ARE WE TO BELIEVE THAT FROM CEO STEPHANIE DOWN TO JOHN THE DIRECTOR TO THE CASE MANAGERS NO ONE KNEW THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR MOVING RESIDENTS INTO THE BUILDING. AGAIN, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

LANDLORDS GUIDE TO SIGNING UP TO BE A SECTION 8 HOUSING PROVIDER

There's something in it for you Dear Landlord and we would like more selection when it comes to Section 8.

But you'll have to ask yourself if you think HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT OR NOT!

A whole lot of us have evictions on our credit. We don't want to loose our apartment again and have another eviction or face the FIVE YEAR WAIT PENALTY if we do.

Because it ain't cool at all when someone goes into a Section 8 apartment after a long wait too and then a year later you raise the rent so that their 1/3rd is unaffordable. That person still has to come up with money to move again and find another Section 8 apartment! So if you're an asshole we don't want to rent from you in the first place because you can make our life rotten again. Jacey

PASSOVER CELEBRATION OF JEWISH ACTIVISTS : TANYA TULL :BEYOND SHELTER

Linking to an old JEWISH JOURNAL ARTICLE HERE ABOUT HOMELESS ACTIVIST TANYA TULL and BEYOND SHELTER.

She says thousands loose their Section 8 housing.


BEYOND SHELTER
1200 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite 600
LA, CA 90017
(213) 252 0772
LINK IS Http://www.beyondshelter.org/home.html

NOTE: We are being told that this is an option only for women with children.

SECTION 8 HOUSING STALL MAKES SHELTERS VICIOUS

VICIOUS SHELTER CASE MANAGERS are finding ways to get rid of residents who may have qualified for Section 8, but who they can get rid of anyway, in order to keep their numbers up.

Shelters are playing a game of getting rid of residents to open beds for other homeless people. We can understand that no one wants to live at a shelter forever, but if you were taken in with the promise of housing and they can no longer provide, whose fault is that? The shelter case managers are throwing people who have proven themselves thus far back into the same circumstances they came from - or worse.

The gamble is that some of these residents will after all be able to go live with family or friends or find a room for rent somewhere, when they were saving money to get into a discounted apartment.

WE SUSPECT THESE PEOPLE WILL BE BACK TO STREET STATUS SOON. THAT'S BECAUSE IF THE RELATIONSHIP WITH FAMILY OR FRIENDS WAS GOOD THEY PROBABLY WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ON THE STREET IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Section 8 housing that is paid for by the Federal government, such as for Veterans, is still funded. State Section 8 is in as much trouble as the state it's in.

IS SECTION 8 HOUSING ON HOLD FOREVER ?

Due to the economic crisis SECTION 8 HOUSING is on hold. This means that vouchers for those on the top of the list are not coming any time soon. Some say 6 months, some say a year...

WHEN THE PROBLEM is THE OVERPRICE of APARTMENT RENTS and HOUSING as THE BIGGEST FACTOR IN THE COST OF LIVING, many people who are working but cannot afford to rent are homeless.