Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Councilmember Nithya Raman announced the newest Inside Safe operation, a first-of-its-kind Inside Safe that is addressing a longstanding RV encampment near the intersection of Barham Boulevard and Forest Lawn Drive.
Yesterday, Mayor Bass announced that more than 21,000 Angelenos came inside this year. This is thousands more than last year as Mayor Bass deployed new, urgent strategies to confront the homelessness crisis.
But will it work for the lineup of RV’s in and around Los Angeles? We’ve seen time and time again, encampments gone one day and back the next.
Bass talks about Inside Safe. What is it? It’s an initiative that was launched to house Angelenos living in encampments and to prevent encampments from returning. This citywide, voluntary approach leads with housing and services and is one feature in a comprehensive strategy to confront the homelessness crisis.
This is the 33rd Inside Safe encampment operation in Los Angeles. The initiative is responsible for bringing more than 1,900 Angelenos inside. Mayor Bass is moving Los Angeles forward with an urgent and strategic approach to confronting the homelessness crisis, which includes declaring a state of emergency, taking action to dramatically accelerate and lowering the cost of building affordable and temporary housing, moving to maximize the use of City-owned property for temporary and permanent housing and cutting through red tape to move people into permanent housing.
The mission-driven food company, Everytable, provided meals for this first-of-its-kind Inside Safe operation. “Healthy meals served with dignity are a critical part of the wrap-around services that Inside Safe provides. We’re proud to work with the Mayor’s Office to address basic needs as people transition from the streets into interim housing and eventually exiting homelessness,” said Sam Polk, founder and CEO of Everytable. Over the last four years Everytable has served nearly five million scratch-made meals to people experiencing homelessness in Southern California, including dozens of Inside Safe interim housing sites.
Inside Safe supports the following five goals:
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Reduce the loss of life on our streets
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Increase access to mental health and substance abuse treatment for those living in encampments
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Eliminate street encampments
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Promote long-term housing stability for people experiencing homelessness
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Enhance the safety and hygiene of neighborhoods for all residents, businesses, and neighbors
