Executive Directive No. 16 – Implementation of the Comprehensive Homeless Strategy

Mayor:  The City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles undertook an historic joint effort to address homelessness regionally when the Board of Supervisors approved the County’s Recommended Strategies to Combat Homelessness on February 9, 2016, and I approved the City’s Comprehensive Homeless Strategy on February 10, 2016. This effort emerged out of a joint planning process that engaged local, regional, and national stakeholders, and that included the voices of residents experiencing homelessness.

The City’s Comprehensive Homeless Strategy report presents sixty-four strategy briefs that align with my three-pillar approach: house those who are currently homeless; prevent residents who have homes from falling into homelessness; and implement a street-based plan that protects public health and public safety along with the civil rights of people experiencing homelessness. The report will guide us through this current crisis and after.

The Comprehensive Homeless Strategy incorporates national best practices including a coordinated entry system to navigate people from the streets into housing; a housing first approach to prioritize placement in permanent housing as a primary solution; and the decriminalization of homelessness. These practices are evidence-based and have contributed to ending homelessness among high-need sub-populations including persons with substance-abuse and other mental disorders, veterans, persons in the criminal-justice system, and persons experiencing chronic homelessness.  …