As Los Angeles prepares to release its official 2019 homeless count
this Friday (May 31), AHF today unveils its newest Los Angeles area
billboard advocacy campaign on housing and the homeless featuring two
stark messages: ‘Homelessness Kills’ and ‘Gentrification
Sucks.’
There were 3,612 deaths of homeless people in L.A. County from 2014
to 2018—a 76% increase over the past five years. And despite government
spending of over $619 million on the homeless crisis in the region over
the past year, the 2019 Los Angeles area homeless count is expected to
rise. In 2018, there were 53,195 homeless men, women and children in Los
Angeles.
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As Los Angeles officials prepare to release the formal 2019 homeless
count this Friday (May 31), AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
today unveiled its newest Los Angeles area billboard advocacy campaign
which puts the spotlight on the burgeoning homeless and housing crisis
in Los Angeles. The new campaign, posted this week on over 30 billboards
throughout greater Los Angeles (with 100 bus bench placements soon to
follow), features two stark messages: ‘Homelessness Kills’ and ‘Gentrification
Sucks.’
The first billboard features the headline ‘Homelessness
Kills’ placed over a close-up image of the toe-tagged feet of an
individual lying dead on a morgue table; the second includes the
headline ‘Gentrification
Sucks’ over an urban city view of Los Angeles. The only additional
text on both of the billboards is the web address for ‘LAScandal.org’
(rendered in the style of the ubiquitous green Caltrans freeway signs
posted throughout the state), a website where people can get information
on the homeless crisis, learn about the sclerotic response from
government and elected officials and find links to directly contact
their L.A. City Council Member or L.A. County Supervisor to urge them to
act more quickly and decisively to address the homeless and affordable
housing crisis.
“For too many of our fellow Angelenos, homelessness has become a matter
of life and death—our homeless death rate in Los Angeles is now nearly twice
the homicide rate,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AHF.
“Given that L.A. officials spent over $619 million on homeless services
over the past year, this is a national disgrace. Despite those millions
of dollars, homeless people are literally dying on our streets. These
new billboards serve to remind the public both of some causes and
consequences of homelessness—and to shame our public officials into
meaningful and more timely action on the twin crises of homelessness and
gentrification.”
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner records,
918 homeless people died in 2018. In 2017, there were 806 deaths among
the homeless. The coroner’s office reported a total of 3,612 deaths of
homeless people in L.A. County from 2014 to 2018—a 76% increase over
those past five years (Kaiser
Health News via US News & World Report, April 23, 2019).
Last week, the Los Angeles City Council passed a record $10.6 billion
budget that includes $457 million earmarked for homeless programs. More
than half of that funding will come from the Measure HHH bond, the
well-intentioned 2016 L.A. City ballot measure authorizing $1.2 billion
in bonds to pay for the construction of 10,000 units of housing for
homeless people and that passed with 76% of the vote. Measure HHH
funding has yet to house a single homeless individual.
According to the Los
Angeles Times, “Los Angeles will release numbers from its
homeless population count on May 31 (2109), and officials
are expecting the number to rise even though the region spent
$619 million last year on the problem.” The newspaper separately and
previously reported
that “The 2018 count stated there were 53,195 homeless people in Los
Angeles County.”
Snapshot of The Homeless Crisis: Los Angeles
2016-2019
-
The official 2019 homeless count in Los Angeles County—to be
released FRIDAY, May 31st—is widely expected to increase. -
The official 2018 homeless count in Los Angeles County was 53,195,
a slight dip from 2017. -
The 2017 homeless count in Los Angeles County was nearly 58,000
(57,794), a 23% INCREASE from 2016. -
That sharp rise, to nearly 58,000, suggested that the pathway into
homelessness continues to outpace intensifying efforts that — through
rent subsidies, new construction, outreach and support services — got
more than 14,000 people permanently off the streets last year. (Los
Angeles Times, 5/31/17) -
Homelessness also increased sharply in the City of Los Angeles in
2017, where the count of just over 34,000 was UP 20% from 2016. (L.A.
Times 5/31/17)
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS
organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over
1.1 million individuals in 43 countries worldwide in the US, Africa,
Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To
learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org,
find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth
and follow us @aidshealthcare.
Contacts
Ged Kenslea, Senior Director, Communications, AHF
+1.323.791.5526
cell
[email protected]
Marin Austin, Communications Director, AHF
+1.323.333.7754
cell
[email protected]
