On May 23, the Rev. Andy Bales, president of the Union Rescue Mission, asked members of the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission to allow homeless moms and their kids to move from skid row to the mission's proposed transitional housing facility near Sylmar. The Hope Gardens Family Center, he said, will allow homeless children to receive the same "healing touch" that Jesus so readily offered to children during his earthly ministry.
"The great cost savings will be the cost of suffering that our women and children experience," Rev. Bales said. "Homelessness is devastating not only to moms, but it devastates young people. Homelessness destroys self-esteem. It harms people physically. It harms their ability to have healthy relationships in the future. And we want to bring healing to these children and to their moms."
City Councilmember Jan Perry said she had been waiting a long time for a place like Hope Gardens to get homeless families away from skid row and into a stable environment with support services that could help young mothers and children radically change their troubled lives.
"Homeless families do not belong in skid row," Perry declared. "They need a far better environment and support services to help change their lives. Homeless families are the fastest growing homeless population in our region, a region that is years behind in its efforts to address this growing problem.
"This is a project that will make a difference in the lives of the people who need help the most."
But it was a seasoned street cop who made the most emotional plea to move families off skid row ASAP.
"Instead of walking and playing on urine- and alcohol-soaked sidewalks, they'll be surrounded by green grass and trees," said Senior Lead LAPD Officer Sgt. Deon Joseph. "Instead of being with drug dealers robbing these children of their innocence, they will be surrounded by the caring of both their mothers and the Hope Gardens staff. They will have a stronger chance to break the negative cycle of that which has the potential to break minds, bodies and souls.
"So my question to anyone would be, 'How can anyone in good conscience be against that?'"
No to NIMBYism
After listening to the minister, city official and police officer, plus more than a dozen other witnesses, the Regional Planning Commission approved plans by the Union Rescue Mission to start moving some 225 mothers and children from skid row to its 78-acre retreat on the fringe of the Angeles National Forest.
The Lopez Canyon facility, which was formerly the Forester Haven retirement home, already houses about 20 elderly homeless women. But some local residents - although separated from the facility by at least a mile of deep ravines and dense chaparral - have steadfastly fought the homeless family project for more than two years. At the public hearing, these home owners expressed concerns about fires in the dry foothills, increased traffic and security problems, along with falling property values.
But parishioners from St. Didicus Church in Sylmar and other neighbors countered these claims with testimony in favor of moving homeless families from the daily horrors of skid row.
At the end of the day, by a 4-0 vote - with one commissioner abstaining because of a potential conflict of interest - the commission approved the conditional use permit for the transitional housing facility. "We are looking at the victims of society's neglect, and this is a way to give them a second chance," Commissioner Wayne Rew told the Los Angeles Daily News.
Residents of nearby Kagel Canyon and other parts of the northeast San Fernando Valley can appeal the commission's decision to the Board of Supervisors. Still, Rev. Bales called it a great step, adding "it doesn't mean we're all the way there."
The commission's vote was the first major test of local government officials' proclamation more than a year ago of "zero tolerance" for families on skid row. It was also seen as a significant measure of a public pledge to spread services for the homeless throughout the county instead of keeping them concentrated on L.A.'s infamous skid row.
Many at the hearing thought the issue boiled down to a single query: Would NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) once again stop a worthwhile project serving society's disenfranchised?
One small step
After the day-long hearing, Scott Chamberlain, the mission's vice president of women and family programs, said, "We're completely elated that the commissioners gave us their support, and that means we can move the families in quicker than expected. We would be hoping to actually move them in before June 30th in order for the families to be in before the start of the school year."
He told The Tidings that decisions are still being made about how many homeless families will be phased in first, but said 15 to 20 families will move in "right off the bat" with up to 40 families phased in during the next three to six months.
After about a year, the mountain camp will accommodate some 55 families or 225 single moms and their children. In addition, about 25 elderly homeless women will also live there.
"So we are getting closer to moving families off of skid row and out to Hope Gardens near Sylmar," the former downtown pastor reported. "And we think that that's a first step toward solving one of the significant issues of family homelessness within Los Angeles County.
"At the same time, we always want to encourage the city and county to do holistic planning because this is just one small step. But it's a significant step."
It certainly is for Takeisha Weatherspoon, a current resident of the Union Rescue Mission who hopes to be living soon in independent quarters at Hope Gardens with her five-year-old daughter Tylese.
The 31-year-old LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse) from Paramount and her child were staying in a mobile home until it was sold, then at a motel until they wound up on the street downtown last November.
"On skid row, you have nowhere to go, no park to sit in or go swing in," Weatherspoon said during a break in the hearing. "I've been out to see the single rooms at Hope Gardens, and I think it will be a great change for myself and my daughter.
"Just the scenery itself, and then just the atmosphere there from what we experience down on skid row," she added, smiling and shaking her head a little. "It'll be totally better for my daughter, and a big change for me. And that's what we need."
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