Unless last-minute Congressional negotiations to pass a new COVID relief bill succeed, more than 1 million Californians will lose their unemployment benefits at the end of this month.
Lawmakers in Washington, D.C. are currently debating a bipartisan bill that would extend two federal unemployment programs Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) into mid-April. Created in the spring by the federal CARES Act, both programs are set to expire on Dec. 26.
While policy experts are hopeful that relief will arrive soon, unemployment recipients say the uncertainty is causing profound stress. To be coming to what could be the end of my benefits just feels like the final nail in the coffin, said Koreatown resident Riordan Tenney.
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In other cities, 64-square-foot aluminum and composite sheds are being used as quick and inexpensive emergency shelter for homeless people.
Not in Los Angeles. Here, plans to employ the minimalist structures, known as “tiny homes,” have blossomed into expensive development projects with access roads, underground utilities and concrete foundations and commensurate planning delays.
At the city’s first tiny home village, scheduled to open in January, each of the 39 closet-sized homes is costing $130,000, about 10 times what some other cities are spending. Five more villages are planned to open later.
Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the program in March, signaling that the concept of sheltering people in tiny homes, long neglected in Los Angeles, had emerged as a leading strategy in the city’s response to a federal lawsuit alleging it has done too little to get homeless people off the streets.
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We published a list of places to get help in Long Beach for those affected by the pandemic in May and since then, we’ve heard from dozens of residents who use and share our list regularly.
Now that we’re hitting another wave of COVID-19 cases and more businesses are shut down, we’ve updated this list and made sure these services are still being offered.
Here’s a quick guide to some local nonprofits and the services they provide.
If you’re looking for ways to help, most of these organizations are looking for donations and volunteers. Contact them to see how you can get involved.
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KCRW follows the money into a city-funded homeless housing project and finds evictions, inflated costs, and an LA real estate developer with a long and troubled history. Who in city government is paying attention?
The closed down, partly renovated motel at 1906 W. 3rd Street in LA’s Westlake neighborhood long served as a place for people without much money to find shelter. And that’s what it’ll be again when its current refurbishment is done: 136 subsidized units for homeless veterans, called the West Third Apartments. This transformation of low-income housing into a different type of low-income housing has so far gobbled up more than $30 million, including $10.2 million from LA taxpayers, and isn’t scheduled for completion until next March, according to the city’s Housing and Community Investment Department.