Mayor Bass said some who left Inside Safe have chafed at the rules imposed inside the program’s hotels, while others struggled with addiction or mental health.That could require getting a new driver’s license and Social Security card, documenting income from general relief or Supplemental Security Income and proving legal residency and status as homeless. All that often takes months.
The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Development Authority jointly asked the federal housing agency for the waiver in March. Bass followed up in May with a letter specifying five specific changes that “will drastically expedite the leasing process and allow the city and its partners to make full use of all the federal resources dedicated to fighting homelessness in the immediate term.
The two housing authorities then appealed on Aug. 4, Monocchio said, contending that “the scope of this problem is such with the folks in the encampments and the motels that it wasn’t really feasible to get this information on income eligibility before the person moved in.”“In light of the safety of the residents and helping the city to house people in a timelier fashion, we decided to allow what you would call presumptive eligibility,” Monocchio said.
“I want to thank Secretary Fudge, who I’ve worked with on this issue, for her fearless advocacy,” Bass said.