Community Voices
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Make sure to vote by November 5. (photo: Glenn Gritzner)

One of the many reasons our San Pedro community has effectively supported solutions to end homelessness in our region is 1.) our ability to work together, 2.) learn from what we’ve done, and 3.) improve our efforts moving forward. This sentiment underlies Measure A, which is on your ballot for this election. 

Many of you frequently ask me what you can do to help. This month, I’ve made it easy.

 As many of you know, in 2017, voters passed Measure H to help address LA County’s homelessness crisis. Also known as the “Los Angeles County Plan to Prevent and Combat Homelessness,” this measure created a quarter-cent sales tax to fund homelessness services and short-term housing. 

People ask me all the time why this money hasn’t solved homelessness. Well, our current homelessness crisis wasn’t made in a decade—and it won’t be solved in one either. But the fact is that we’ve housed and served more individuals experiencing homelessness than ever before because of this funding. We are making an enormous dent in the crisis every single day. 

For instance, Measure H has supported our region’s ability to bring more than 120,000 people off the streets, permanently house 42,000 of them, and really dig into the things that do and don’t work in our region. And yet, this funding doesn’t address the root causes of homelessness or prevent people from falling into homelessness. For every 100 people we house in LA today, 125 become homeless.

That being said, Measure H was written with our knowledge at the time, so while we’ve saved many lives, we’ve also learned some valuable lessons.

 We know we need more resources to prevent our community’s families from becoming homeless. We know we need to dedicate more funding to the growing homeless populations: seniors and families with young children. We need more robust mental health care. We know that once folks are housed, they need more support than we have been offering to keep them housed. Bottom line: We have a better idea of where to allocate public funding.

 Measure A would replace Measure H’s quarter-cent tax and replace it with a half-cent sales tax, so yes, we’d pay a little more for what we buy. However, Measure A answers most of the challenges our homeless service sector has faced over the last decade. 

In short, Measure A helps us do even more of what we know works, fills in gaps that we didn’t know existed (or didn’t realize the extent of), and ensures we don’t do what we know doesn’t work.

 And more so, if we don’t pass it, estimates are that homelessness could rise by 28 percent across LA County, and 57,400 individuals would lose the housing and services that keep them safe today.

 Homelessness might seem intractable, but here in San Pedro, we know better than anyone that we can make a meaningful dent in the problem if we pull together as a community. Measure A is a bold new approach to the crisis our region has aimed to solve. We’ve been working magic as a region with limited resources. What could we accomplish with more? spt

Amber Sheikh

Amber Sheikh is a San Pedro resident, mother of two, community advocate, and owner of Sheikh/Impact, a nonprofit consulting firm. She has nearly two decades of experience working in and with organizations solving homelessness and income inequality.