Aiding L.A. County’s chronically homeless

Diane Asebedo, 41, who says she’s been homeless off and on for nine years, is visited by the outreach team. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Sept. 28, 2013 12 PM PT

The Emerald Necklace operation -- targeting homeless along the San Gabriel River set to be parkland -- marks a shift in thinking about chronic homelessness, which local leaders have promised to end by 2016. Where advocates once tried to help street homeless with blankets and food, and law enforcement rousted them, the teams are spending months earning their trust and getting them into threshold services they need to qualify for housing.
Read more: Advocates reach out — way out — to get homeless out of riverbed

David Lee Puentes gets a visit from outreach worker Angel Espinoza during a morning shave. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Outreach workers approach a group of men, including Robert Navarrette, 51, living under a bridge on the border of El Monte and Baldwin Park. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

This woman living under a bridge on Valley Boulevard continues to refuse help from outreach workers. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Angel Espinoza gives Benny Perea his business card. Perea eventually went to detox and then got transitional housing. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Homeless for many years, Benny Perea told the project team he needed “a place to rest my head.” (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Outreach workers Jeanette Rowe and Angel Espinoza visit with Tamiko Holling, who lives with her husband and dogs along the San Gabriel River. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

After five years of being homeless, Gene Ball, 52, left, gets ready to leave a homeless encampment to enter a detox program with the help of outreach worker Angel Espinoza in El Monte. “I want detox and I want to better my life,” Ball said. Jimmy Stannard, 55, right, also homeless, helps Ball with his things. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)