Homeless Aid Groups Discuss U.S. Funding

Hoping to obtain more money for homeless services in the San Fernando Valley, about 40 activists and heads of social service organizations presented their funding priorities Monday before representatives of the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority.

LAHSA is the city-county umbrella agency that last year administered the county’s $71 million in Housing and Urban Development funds for homeless services. The authority has scheduled seven community meetings--like the one Monday at Van Nuys’ Church on the Way--to assess the need throughout the county.

Last year, some Valley-area service providers believe they were underfunded, receiving about 7%--or $4.6 million--of federal dollars, according to area advocates for the homeless. The Valley has about 14% of the county’s homeless population.

The metropolitan Los Angeles area, which encompasses Skid Row and the Wilshire Corridor, had about 20% of the homeless population, but it received more than 40% of the federal money, said John Horn, chairman of the San Fernando Valley Housing Coalition, which represents nearly 100 groups that provide services to the homeless.

Marlene Singer, LAHSA’s manager of programs and volunteers, said funding was tight all around. To receive more of the dwindling supply of funds and better serve the Valley’s homeless, the coalition is surveying the homeless themselves.

The results of the survey should be compiled in two or three weeks, Horn said. Meanwhile, homeless coalition member groups are debating whether to apply for HUD dollars together under a lead agency or under the umbrella of LAHSA again.

The federal housing agency predicts that it will disperse between $675 million and $925 million to homeless groups nationwide in 1996. Singer said LAHSA will likely administer $50 million of that.

The application deadline is June 12.