“No two people living on Skid Row, or in the Sepulveda Basin, ended up there for the same reasons. But the common thread among all unsheltered Angelenos is the need for a safe place to sleep while we help them find a stable home and a better future.” Mayor Eric Garcetti
People experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles remains a major humanitarian crisis. It’s nearly impossible to go anywhere in the city without seeing rows of tents on streets and freeway underpasses, and there are few places where the situation is as severe as it is in LA. However, some are hopeful and have feasible solutions like Andy Bales, the CEO of Union Rescue Mission who exclusively talked to The Voluntourist about the issue, what needs to be done to get people off the streets and how you can help.
The Voluntourist: I understand you’re the only mission that accepts teenaged children.
Andy Bales: We’re the only rescue mission downtown and even further that welcomes children at all, but we’re certainly in the whole area the only ones that take in boys over the age of 13.
The Voluntourist: Why is that?
Andy Bales: I’m not sure why they don’t take in children. It is challenging to take in families with children, especially teenaged children because they have a lot of energy. But we up our investment in security in order to welcome them and not split up families.
The Voluntourist: Why is that important to you to keep families together?
Andy Bales: I don’t want moms and dads to be without their kids. When we first opened up our Hope Gardensfacility out in Sylmar the county supervisor’s office called and said, “You can move the moms and kids out to Hope Gardens, but you have to leave the teenagers downtown. If you leave the teenagers downtown we won’t help the neighbors appeal the decision.” I said, I’m not leaving the teenagers downtown so go ahead and appeal.” About two minutes later they called me back and said we’re not going to appeal. I say it probably stems from my dad experiencing homelessness as a child between the ages of 4 and 17. I want to mitigate the severe impact that kids experiencing homelessness has.
The Voluntourist: How long can people stay at the mission for?
Andy Bales: As long as it takes to get them into housing.
The Voluntourist: Where do they go for housing?
Andy Bales: About one-third of our families chose to move to our Hope Gardens facility in Sylmar, which is a two to three years stay. Then the others look for affordable housing, which is very hard to find right now.
The Voluntourist: Why do most people come here? What are their stories?
Andy Bales: Many of singles moms. Let’s say we have 272 people here last night, we only had 10 dads out of that. The rest is all moms and kids–about 180 kids and 70 or 80 moms. Most of the moms and kids are fleeing domestic abuse. That’s the single biggest cause. Then a two parent family moved in the other night and the dad has a full-time job, but he just can’t afford anywhere to live in LA. I’d say the skyrocketing rents and domestic abuse are the two top reasons right now. Like everybody else, there’s a mix of issues.
The Voluntourist: What’s the maximum amount of people who can stay here?
Andy Bales: We hit the max the other night at 272, but we always make room for families and single ladies. We just find room. There’s 1,024 sex offenders on the streets of Skid Row, so there’s no way we can leave moms and kids or single ladies [out there].
The Voluntourist: I assume the accommodations are shared?
Andy Bales: Yeah, there’s two families in a room on the 4th floor and one family per room on the 5th floor.
The Voluntourist: Can they come and go as they please?
Andy Bales: Yes.
The Voluntourist: I also assume guests don’t pay?
Andy Bales: No, they don’t pay anything.
The Voluntourist: How are you funded?
Andy Bales: We’re funded completely by private donations, private individuals, corporations, foundations.
The Voluntourist: How can people volunteer?
Andy Bales: They can go to our site or email me at abales@urm.org.
The Voluntourist: How can volunteers help?
Andy Bales: Come have a fun party like Raw Sugar did tonight, they can help with our once a month birthday party on the rooftop (every month the mission has a birthday for guests staying with them), they can serve food, they can tutor, help in our learning center with people who are getting their GED, they can mentor someone, or partner with a family.
The Voluntourist: Are volunteers vetted?
Andy Bales: Yes, we do background checks.
The Voluntourist: How many people are homeless in LA?
Andy Bales: Right now it’s just under 60,000 people who are experiencing homelessness. 44,000 on the streets of LA County and 34,000 on the streets of LA City, but new stats will be released May 31st and the numbers will be a lot higher. LA only puts a roof over 25 percent of the people experiencing homelessness and New York puts a roof over 95 percent of the people experiencing homelessness. So we need to take immediate measures to put a roof over everyone’s heads. (Actually homelessness is down by a small percentage NBC reports)
The Voluntourist: How?
Andy Bales: We’re putting a sprung structure in our backyard for 136 ladies. We can do those sprung structures, four in each of the 15 districts. In six months we could get 6500 people off the streets and in a year we could get 13,000 people off the streets. They will be heated and air-conditioned. They’re like tents, but they’re permanent. It can be done for less than 1 million dollars. Then on the final end, we need 3D printed concrete homes that are 660 square feet each that you can make for under $10,000 each. Those are the innovative steps we need to take to make sure we house everybody.