Los Angeles’s Housing Initiative Aims to Reduce Homelessness

Klarize Medenilla

 

This is an excerpt from Asian Journal. Read the rest of the article here.

 

Though the city of Los Angeles has gone through several administrations that have tried to tackle the rampant homelessness problem, the recently passed Proposition HHH is vowing to take that fight more seriously than in the past.

 

Prop HHH, a wide-ranging homeless initiative that looks to reduce homelessness in a city where it thrives, has funded several housing projects designed to keep more people off the streets.

 

But the homelessness problem is twofold: providing more housing but also expanding health resources for the homeless and underserved.

 

On Wednesday, March 28, the city’s leaders formally unveiled the Joshua House Health Center, which promises quality healthcare that is geographically accessible to a vast majority of the city’s homeless community.

 

Funded primarily through a Prop HHH award in the first round of funding, the clinic will simultaneously expand healthcare while providing a pathway for housing for those who are experiencing homelessness.

 

“The Joshua House Health Center will provide state-of-the-art, comprehensive medical care to 200 people a day. The goal is access to health, access to homes, access to a better life and access to a better community. Let’s bring everyone in!” LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said at a press conference on Wednesday at the center’s location.

 

 

Local faith leaders also came to the unveiling to bless the grounds. Los Angeles Christian Health Centers owns and will operate the Joshua House Health Clinic, which will replace an existing 100-year structure that has operated as a crack house.

 

The new three-story clinic will be a part of a larger multi-project development — which will include a 55-unit apartment area for homeless Angelenos — that will be developed by Skid Row Housing Trust.

 

“We are proud of this very special project that we hope will help transform the way healthcare and housing services are offered to people who are homeless and underserved,” said president and CEO of LACHC Lisa Abdishoo, M.D. “It’s significant that LACHC is able to expand in this way to do more to reach people who are homeless and have complex needs.”

 

Abdishoo said that the Joshua House Health Center — which is located in Skid Row on 7th Street and Wall Street — will provide a wide range of medical, dental, mental health and substance abuse services for the area’s homeless population.

 

According to a statement provided by the Skid Row Housing Trust, the new space will serve an additional 1,200 patients within the first year and is projected to serve up to 7,000 annually. The clinic will include 18 medical exam rooms, six consultation rooms, eight dental chairs, nine mental health rooms, and 13 social work and care coordination offices.

 

There will also be a large multi-purpose room for fitness classes and health education as well as a meditation room and a chaplain’s office.

 

This is an excerpt from Asian Journal. Read the rest of the article here.

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