The public narrative around Skid Row rarely if ever presents Skid Row as Holy Ground as in Moses, take off your shoes. And yet for many residents and former residents who experience Skid Row as Community, Skid Row is Holy Ground.
On June 28, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a Motion — SKID ROW ACTION PLAN: improving the lives of residents of Skid Row by addressing homelessness stemming from decades of institutional racism. The Motion called for seven areas of focus in creating this Action Plan.
From the Motion: “This collaborative Skid Row Action Plan should consider core components from which to build including: Increased Permanent Housing, Safe Services, Increased Interim Housing, Substance Use Health Hub, 24/7 Low Barrier Health Services including Physical and Behavioral Health Urgent Care Services, Increased Sanitation Services, Increased Sources of Income.” Detailed definitions and descriptions of these seven areas of focus are in the Motion.
June 28 began a community-driven planning process for the rest of 2022 with an Ad Hoc Resident Advisory Committee playing an important role. A mid-December report sent to the Supervisors contained several pages of recommendations including Sustain the Ad-Hoc Resident Advisory Committee to oversee the implementation for the Skid Row Action Plan.
Since then, the County has budgeted two major community events a year as part of implementing the plan with the first one in June/July. The Resident Advisory Committee (RAC) meets monthly. For the March meeting, nine members of the committee attended.
During the March meeting a summary was handed out of a three hour interview/discussion with two Staff of SRO Housing. This interview/discussion was based on the following recommendation: Improve conditions of existing permanent housing stock…Assess the safety, maintenance, and physical conditions of current permanent housing stock in Skid Row, and develop an improvement action plan based on findings, as well as written safety and maintenance standards of housing programs.
Dramatically, this material was given to the RAC the same morning as a front page article in the Los Angeles Times exposed the horrifying living conditions of some tenants in Skid Row Housing Trust buildings.
The living conditions of Skid Row housed residents was a major topic of discussion during the meeting. Another major topic had to do with Increased Sources of Income, specifically this December recommendation: Create local economic opportunities…Prioritize community-based hiring and develop recruitment and retention practices which meet the needs of community members seeking employment.
RAC member Coach Ron used the phrase “Trauma Informed Employment” during the discussion. With Skid Row nonprofit service providers and residents/advocates, the understanding of Trauma Informed Care is common.