Facing San Pedro’s Homeless Crisis

By Nora Vela, founder and director of Helping The Homeless In Need—San Pedro

Daily Breeze reporter, Donna Littlejohn, reported correctly in her Sept. 2 story that we have suspended building the temporary transitional shelters, also known as tiny homes.

Littlejohn, however, was incorrect to call our organization a “business.” We are not, and never were a business.

Our funding exists mostly off of Fernando Escobedo’s paycheck; he works more than 60 hours a week.  We also get help from private donations as well as the proceeds from selling my artwork.

We are honest people. We pay taxes. We pay rent and are not wealthy by any means. We are just people who care.

Our goal was to educate, connect and give hope to people working their way through Los Angeles County’s Coordinated Entry System.

The way we see it, if someone is drowning in the ocean, we throw them a life preserver instead of just encouraging them to hang on.

When we formed Helping the Homeless In Need, we saw a void and attempted to fill it.

We began with handing out 12 tacos to people who looked hungry in a park. The more we handed out food, the more need we saw. It became apparent that while there were a number of shelters for people dealing with addiction and mental health issues, there were no shelters for individuals who were not addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Currently, certain elected officials and civic leaders are trying to buy time to develop permanent housing for the homeless. But right now what is needed are acceptable temporary housing solutions.

The homeless in our community are exposed to many dangers, including: illness, theft, and assault. They are particularly prone to having their property stolen—property such as cell phones, identification cards, and other important documents—documents that have to be replaced every single time.

Our intention behind the temporary transitional shelters was not to offend or harm anyone, but to get people into a safer environment.

Any sort of 6-month shelter with running water and toilets would be the first step to giving people back dignity and self-worth and make them feel a productive part of society again.

Due to our electeds and civic leaders not addressing the issue of homelessness and not providing enough resources to assist local service agencies in San Pedro, we are now facing a crisis that can’t be swept under the rug anymore.

This coming winter is going to be a harsh one. If we as a community can build shelters where proper services can be administered, we will be able to avoid expenses such as unnecessary ambulatory calls, visits to emergency rooms, hazmat clean ups, storage facilities for personal belongings and police trips to downtown Los Angeles jails.

We are keeping our options open to any positive solutions that can improve our community for both the short and long term.

We all love San Pedro and want to clean it up and keep it clean by positively empowering each other. Let’s work together toward a brighter future.