Mike Juma sat on the finish of the mattress in his ninth-floor one-bedroom condo in downtown Los Angeles, staring on the mountains seen from his window.
“I don’t like high-rises,” he mentioned. “However take a look at that attractive view. That’s what they name a million-dollar view.”
A 12 months in the past, Juma, 64, was in a vastly totally different place in life. He was residing in a tent on Skid Row, promoting cigarettes to make cash and sleeping with a samurai-style sword by his aspect for defense.
Now, he’s in a furnished condo listening to the mushy whooshing sound of the air conditioner.
Juma is amongst a wave of unhoused individuals who have moved from Skid Row into interim and everlasting housing over the past 12 months. It’s all a part of a $280-million county initiative to deal with greater than 2,500 folks, boosting well being, drug remedy and associated companies within the 50-block neighborhood that has change into synonymous with poverty and homelessness.
Mike Juma exhibits off his kitchen on the Weingart Tower in dowtown Los Angeles, the place he moved in early August.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Occasions)
The initiative, dubbed the Skid Row Motion Plan, is also an effort to counter the systemic racism that has pushed folks to Skid Row — the place an outsize variety of Black folks fill sidewalks and encampments — by attempting to remodel the neighborhood right into a thriving group.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, whose district consists of Skid Row, initiated the challenge, which launched a 12 months in the past after months of planning and organizing. Up to now, the county has moved almost 1,000 homeless folks into everlasting housing and almost 2,000 into interim housing equivalent to shelters and transitional housing, based on information not too long ago launched by the county Housing for Well being program, which is main the challenge.
On the time of the challenge’s launch, 4,402 folks had been experiencing homelessness on Skid Row, with greater than half residing in a tent or makeshift shelter, based on the 2022 Larger Los Angeles Homeless Rely. In the present day, the inhabitants stands at 3,791, a lower of almost 14%.
“We acquired very targeted with this,” mentioned Elizabeth Boyce, deputy director for Housing for Well being. “We caught with the principle elements of fixing homelessness and issues we all know we will ship on.”
The progress comes as counties and cities are dealing with stress from Gov. Gavin Newsom to filter out homeless encampments within the wake of a Supreme Courtroom ruling that mentioned cities might implement legal guidelines proscribing homeless encampments on sidewalks and different public property. Including to the stress is the upcoming 2028 Olympics.
Solis praised the company and its companions for the short turnaround.
“With a aim of completely housing 2,500 folks in three years, one 12 months into this system, we’re greater than one-third of the best way there,” Solis mentioned in an electronic mail. “The disaster we’ve on Skid Row has been years within the making, and all of us must work collectively to handle it by specializing in prevention, early intervention, and offering entry to evidence-based remedy companies.”
Authorities officers have lengthy tried to handle homelessness on Skid Row. Within the early Nineteen Seventies, for example, proponents of growth needed to demolish a lot of the realm whereas others advocated to protect the neighborhood’s low-income housing and companies as a option to preserve folks on Skid Row, which grew to become generally known as the “containment plan.”
Zev Yaroslavsky in downtown L.A. in 2014. As a county supervisor, Yaroslavsky launched Challenge 50 to assist individuals who had been chronically homeless.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Occasions)
In 2007, then-Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky launched Challenge 50, a pilot program geared toward housing 50 of probably the most chronically homeless folks on Skid Row via a housing-first strategy. He sought to increase it however was unsuccessful.
Boyce mentioned what makes the Skid Row Motion Plan distinctive is that it was designed to handle the complicated wants of the neighborhood with assist from Skid Row residents, service suppliers and different stakeholders. It additionally leverages sources the county is already utilizing to handle the homelessness disaster within the area.
“We had been actually pondering from the start,” she mentioned, “how can we create considerate, compelling change … not altering the folks that reside there however altering the assist that folks obtain.
“It’s a must to have some early wins and present you’re speaking enterprise.”
In June 2023, the challenge acquired a big funding enhance when Housing for Well being and its companions, the town of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Homeless Companies Authority, obtained a $60-million state grant to fund the challenge via 2026.
Boyce mentioned the funds had been essential within the challenge’s early success. They helped create 350 new interim housing items and 750 new everlasting items, and elevated and improved outreach companies.
The funds have additionally helped set up a “protected touchdown” within the foyer of the Cecil Resort; folks can stroll in at any time of the day or night time to obtain well being and housing companies. The cash additionally created a program to particularly assist Skid Row suppliers entry interim housing for shoppers as quick as doable.
County officers say their work is way from over. They plan to create residency advisory councils that can oversee key areas of the Skid Row Motion Plan. Moreover, they count on to construct a Hurt Discount Well being Hub to offer drug testing and detox beds and to offer referrals to rehab facilities, amongst different companies. There are also plans to determine a protected web site zone — a big out of doors park on Skid Row the place folks can go to and interact with numerous companies to entry authorities advantages and applications.
Juma contemplates the view from his ninth-floor room in Weingart Tower 1.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
Final week, on the ninth ground of Weingart Tower, Juma lighted a cigarette.
“It’s like adjusting to a brand new automotive odor,” he mentioned of his new digs, his voice raspy. It’s “totally different.”
Juma’s tower sits on Skid Row and consists of 228 studios and 47 one-bedroom residences. At the least 40 items are reserved for veterans. Juma served within the Marines.
How Juma ended up on the road just isn’t clear. He mentioned he as soon as had a cross-country trucking enterprise, delivering fish. There have been cash and tax points, and ultimately he misplaced the enterprise and every part that got here with having a steady job.
A passion for consuming was a part of the story, though he says that wasn’t an element.
When he grew to become homeless, he mentioned he returned to an space he was aware of. He arrange a tent close to sixth Avenue and Towne Avenue, not removed from seafood companies.
He mentioned he acquired used to residing outside, even when it was powerful at instances. At night time, he not often slept amid folks screaming, loud music and preventing. Then there was the early visitors of business vehicles.
“You hear every part,” he mentioned. “You’re like a blind man, you hear footsteps, you may’t sleep.”
Final 12 months, he mentioned he was able to get off the streets after he injured a person throughout a combat. Standing over the bleeding man, he mentioned, he knew he’d had it.
“I nearly killed him,” he mentioned. “I’ve had a variety of fights; you generally come out a winner, however you by no means actually win.”
So he approached outreach employees with Housing for Well being. They shortly discovered him a brief place to remain. He then utilized for supportive housing and waited a number of months. Per week in the past, he was informed an condo was out there for him.
Mike Juma, who served within the Marines, has a brand new place to name residence on Skid Row.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
He mentioned he had spent the three days since he moved into his new condo sleeping. Behind him on the mattress was a brown pillow with the phrases: “God has not forgotten me.”
Juma mentioned the condo got here with a brand new fridge, range, tv and, fortunately, a rest room. He mentioned the kitchen cupboards had been full of plates, pots and cooking utensils.
However the window is probably the most symbolic function of his new residence. As he considers the probabilities that lie forward, he can glimpse his previous life. Excessive up in his room, he mentioned, he could make out the road the place he lived in a tent.
Typically, he mentioned, he appears to be like down and thinks: “Issues did prove all proper ultimately.”
