National Health Foundation is in full support of Councilmember Ridley-Thomas’s motion to create a framework for a right to housing in Los Angeles. Although the Los Angeles homelessness crisis is not a new occurrence, the recent pandemic has prompted even more urgency to provide housing for one of society’s most vulnerable and susceptible groups.
Los Angeles County’s Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner data confirmed a 32 percent increase in fatalities among individuals experiencing homelessness in the year 2020. While there are additional contributing factors to the mortality rate among this population, housing is imperative, as it serves as a catalyst for healing and stability.
Councilmember Ridley-Thomas’s motion is an apparent commitment to addressing the homelessness crisis plaguing the city of Los Angeles. NHF supports this Right to Housing motion as it urges the City’s Government housing entities to create a legal framework and implementation strategy to pilot the Right to Housing framework, which will include current efforts being made to end homelessness, recommendations to improve those efforts, and the fiscal needs to assist individuals transitioning into housing. Additionally, with a focus on homelessness prevention through stronger tenant protections and anti-eviction measures, Los Angeles has the opportunity to advance housing and health equity. NHF acknowledges the racist and sexist history of evictions in Los Angeles, and across the US, as evictions have primarily impacted Black communities and women-led households, and believe it is past due to rectify these inequities.
Click here for more information on Councilmember Ridley-Thomas’s Right to Housing motion.