Currently, the only year-round homeless shelters in the region are Union Station Homeless Services in Pasadena and the Pomona Hope for Home Services Center.
A Los Angeles County proposal could ask all San Gabriel Valley cities to identify any site that could potentially be used as homeless shelters.
Supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger, whose districts cover most of the San Gabriel Valley, are set to bring forth a motion to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that, if approved, would direct county CEO Sachi Hamai to ask the cities in the San Gabriel Valley to identify both city-owned and other sites that could be used as homeless shelters.
In addition, the motion would direct county staff to identify county-owned and other locations in unincorporated areas in the San Gabriel Valley for the same purpose.
Currently, the only year-round homeless shelters in the region are Union Station Homeless Services in Pasadena and the Pomona Hope for Home Services Center.
“However, in the vast expanse between these two SGV cities, there are limited options for shelter,” the motion reads.
For months, Solis and Barger have worked to get more money from Measure H — the quarter-percent county sales tax to fund homeless services approved by voters in 2017 — into the hands of cities. The Board of Supervisors last week approved a motion authored by the two to direct the county to make it easier for cities and service providers to apply for Measure H funding.
In addition to funding city initiatives, offering temporary housing coupled with social services is an effective way to help end homelessness, Solis said in a statement Friday.
“Offering our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness a safe and warm bed can provide them with a sense of stability that can get them get back on their feet and can help put them on a path towards stable employment and permanent housing,” Solis said in the statement.
The 2018 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count found that while homelessness was down across the county, the homeless population living in the San Gabriel Valley increased close to 3 percent from the prior year.
In 2017, a nonprofit organization failed in its bid to turn a motel in an unincorporated area near Temple City into permanent, supportive housing for veterans and other homeless people after residents heavily protested the development.
At a meeting on homelessness in West Covinaorganized by Solis last week, resident Stephanie Serrano said it was unfair for only a handful of cities to bear the brunt of providing shelter beds for the San Gabriel Valley’s homeless.
“Every city should have to carry its weight — the burden shouldn’t just be on cities like Pomona and El Monte that are stepping up and building shelters and affordable housing,” Serrano said.