Los Angeles County Supervisors Approve Motion to Expand Faith Group Role in Homelessness Efforts

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion authored by Chair Hilda L. Solis, Supervisor for the First District, and co-authored by Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell. The motion promotes faith community involvement in the county’s efforts to prevent and combat homelessness.

Chair Solis said that for many faith-based organizations, helping people experiencing homelessness is built into their mission and is part of their moral obligation. She said many of the county’s most vulnerable residents are more likely to trust and accept a meal and a bed from a local church or temple than from a government agency. She said the county has an opportunity to support faith-based organizations by removing barriers that keep them from offering services and resources through mainstream homeless systems. “No government will solve homelessness without the partnership of our faith-based communities,” she said.

Supervisor Mitchell said faith-based organizations continue to meet the needs of unhoused residents by providing food, shelter, financial support and community. She named churches, mosques, temples, synagogues and other places of worship, and said they do this because it is the right thing to do. She added that this work will continue whether or not the county is involved, and that it is in the county’s best interest to partner intentionally with faith-based organizations to strengthen its network of care.

According to the county, the Faith Collaborative to End Homelessness, formerly the Faith Working Group, launched in 2018 to coordinate partnership efforts with faith-based organizations across Los Angeles County. It also developed a strategic plan to fold faith-based organizations’ homeless services into the county’s homeless service delivery system. The collaborative includes faith leaders, homelessness liaisons, and leads from various county agencies and elected offices.

The county’s description of the issue notes that many congregations already provide services that mainstream homelessness system partners do not know about. Other congregations want to develop or expand programs, using their members and property, but lack the knowledge and resources to do so. The county also states that past initiatives to mobilize these efforts fell short, in part because they did not recognize the needs of faith-based organizations and required them to conform to cumbersome systems already in place.

The motion instructs the County’s Chief Executive Officer to procure one or more consultants to conduct a countywide survey of faith-based organizations. The survey is meant to understand how these groups provide support and services to people experiencing homelessness or living in poverty. The motion also calls for developing a strategy to fully integrate the faith community into homelessness and other solutions across the county.

The motion further directs the county to make recommendations on creating a County Faith Commission on Homelessness. It requires a written report back to the Board in three months with an interim status report on this effort.

Source: Read the original report