The July 10, 2023 Culver City Council meeting saw the most recent Update on the Homeless Emergency posting dates for both the Project Homekey Hotels and the city’s Safe Sleep Site.
Housing Director Tevis Barnes began her report with the most recent data from the the Los Angeles County Homeless Services Authority, and the count showed an increase in homelessness. Done in January during the evening hours, the data is seen as “a point in time count,” with a focus on being as accurate as possible. The largest annual count defines homelessness as “Folks living in places not meant for human habitation, in makeshifts shelters, or on the street.”
The count showed 75,518 homeless people in LA County, an increase of 9% in the homeless population. There were noted to be 46,260 unhoused people in the city of LA… there was increase of 2,065 people in ‘SPA 5’ the section of the County that includes Culver City.”
Barnes noted that she was not legally allowed to release data to the public until LHASA has released it first, but that she could offer that locally, homelessness had decreased since 2022.
Project Homekey is expected to receive the Certificate of Occupancy on July 17, 2023, and will turn the management of the facility over to Exodus Recovery, the contracted service provider, on July 24. “We are almost there.”
A power point presentation on the Safe Sleep Site on Virginia Ave showed that much of the infrastructure is in place. Tents are up, lighting and plumbing installed, and during the week of July 17 that facility will be handed over to Urban Alchemy, the service provider and operator.
There was also significant progress to report on the Mobil Crisis Unit Team; all staff has been hired, and are currently in undergoing the city’s ‘on-boarding’ process.
Barnes noted that “The 28 people currently housed in hotels will be transitioned to Project Homekey or Safe Sleep as soon as possible. “We will not be moving everyone in at once, so that we are keeping things from starting out in any way chaotic or traumatic. We will be moving people in an organized and orderly fashion.”
The multi-year process of strategizing, funding, constructing and contracting is very close to delivering some quantifiable results.
Judith Martin-Straw
Project Homekey in process – photo credit Dani Crum
