HUD Agrees On Exemptions In LA Over Homeless Permanent Housing Requirements

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced this week that, at the insistence of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other city officials, they will be exempting Los Angeles housing providers from requirements that city-assigned apartment applicants must provide documentation of their homeless status before moving in.

Since becoming Mayor in December, Bass has made homelessness her main focal point. The flagship project of her homelessness campaign has been Inside Safe, which has aimed to open up motel rooms and low-income apartments for homeless to provide long-term shelter and housing. Over the last 9 months, the results of the project have been mixed.

On the plus side for Inside Safe, 14,000 homeless people in the city have been given shelter space or more permanent housing under the program. The number of encampments have also gone down in the city, although actions by the City Council in increasing encampment limitations have helped there as well.

However, the program has also faced a severe negative response as well. Many homeless people, particularly working homeless, have grown frustrated with the plan, leaving many the difficult choice between having housing or keeping their current job. Motel owners have also hated the plan, with owners saying that the initiative ignores safety concerns and other vital issues. And, while the city has said that they have housed thousands of homeless, thousands more have also left the program, leading to severely misleading figures.

Despite the continued turmoil, both the city and those for and against Inside Safe have agreed that the pathway towards permanent housing has been drowning in red tape caused  by HUD. To date, Inside Safe has only managed to get permanent housing for less than 200 homeless people despite the program being around for nine months and hundreds of apartments being assigned.

The main hold-up has been HUD rules that require proof that they were low-income or homeless. It also required IDs such as a social security card, state I.D. card or drivers license. Apartments and other permanent housing areas have largely remained vacant as the process for applying for getting the necessary documents took months, with some processes having to start all over again over lost paperwork.

Since March, the city of Los Angeles has continually asked HUD for an exemption where people can go into housing while awaiting necessary documentation, and then make it official rather than wait unhoused while everything comes in for prequalification.

New waiver for LA

After a major push by Bass in May, HUD mostly relented last month by waiving all Social Security, residency and homelessness requirements. However, the income qualification was left intact, and the city again appealed that earlier this month, with Bass herself appealing directly to HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge. This week, HUD finally relented again, leading to the announcement on Wednesday that the income requirement is also to be waived and that those applying for permanent housing will have 60 days after move in to complete their paperwork.

Mayor Bass praised the decision on Wednesday, saying that “For too long, the system responded to unhoused Angelenos with a 30+ page questionnaire asking for proof that they were low income instead of with the housing they need. People should not be left in motels, tiny homes, or a Bridge Home housing because of paperwork. I want to thank Secretary Fudge, who I’ve worked with on this issue, for her fearless advocacy.

Former commissioner of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Sarah Dusseault added that “The change is a complete leap forward. We couldn’t get at the volume. Even with the fixes we were trying to make years ago, there still was a bottleneck. This relieves a large chunk of the bottleneck.”

Opponents of Inside Safe told the Globe on Wednesday that while the HUD changes were necessary, and that people could still be removed if they were found to be not qualified, the decision would do little to alleviate the homeless problem in the city.

“Permanent housing is great, but they are still missing the big picture here,” said Maurice, who helps run a church-based shelter in LA, to the globe. “Housing is just one factor of the issue. You can have housing, but without anything else, it all collapses. You need to have a system that weans them off into regular housing with a job and making sure that all needs are met. Those HUD checks are in there for a reason, as it identifies people who need it most.

“If Inside Safe really wants to be successful, they need to stop being so housing focused and go to other areas like employment and other basic needs, and provide a system in which they can get off public assistance. But that isn’t happening right now. It’s all about shelter right now.

“I’m glad that people can be housed now while the paperwork is going through, and not after like how it was. Good. But that was really a smaller issue in the larger tapestry of homelessness in LA.”

The new waivers are expected to impact permanent housing for the homeless in LA soon.