Letter Highlights Recommendations for the next Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2022
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragán led six of her Los Angeles County colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives on a letter to the Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness to include specific recommendations from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and feedback from service providers in their next Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.
In the letter, the Members request that the following recommendations be included in the Federal Strategic Plan: (1) include Housing First and Trauma-Informed Care; (2) mitigate the difficulties to obtain documentation for housing; (3) ensure livable wages and invest in capacity building for care and service workers; (4) the removal of justice-system barriers that prevent housing; and (5) encourage or require the inclusion of lived experience advocates in federal, state, and local programs.
If incorporated into the Federal Strategic Plan, these recommendations will create a national strategy that more effectively addresses our homelessness crisis in Los Angeles County and across the Nation.
“The time is now to address our Nation’s unprecedented homelessness crisis, which disproportionately impacts our communities of color. In Los Angeles County alone, over 66,000 people experience homelessness on a given night. Congress must actively engage with our state and local partners, as well as the private sector, to find solutions to this challenge. These recommendations are just a start, but we believe they are an important step to provide LA County federal programmatic support,” said Congresswoman Barragán.
“’We appreciate the leadership of Rep. Barragán in drafting this letter to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness,” said Heidi Marston, the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. “This letter highlights the key policy and funding issues that the federal government should address to help with our homelessness crisis.”
“As one of California’s largest nonprofit homeless service providers and supportive housing developers with an extensive and long-standing presence in Los Angeles County, we see every day how federal policymakers can learn from the region’s successes and address its deepest challenges. We’re heartened by the leadership of Congresswoman Barragán and USICH Director Olivet, and grateful for the opportunity to advise on the updated Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness,” said Jennifer Hark Dietz, the Chief Executive Officer of People Assisting the Homeless (PATH).
Congresswoman Barragán was joined on the letter by Congressmembers Karen Bass (CA-37), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Ted Lieu (CA-33), Alan Lowenthal (CA-47), Linda Sánchez (CA-38), and Adam Schiff (CA-28).
A PDF of the letter is below.