The People Concern Continues to Help the Most Vulnerable in LA

Los Angeles, CA. Homelessness, poverty, mental and physical illness, abuse, and addiction are on the rise in LA according to a nonprofit called The People Concern. Executive Director John Maceri discusses the difficulties of maintaining programs assisting unhoused individuals and domestic violence victims under COVID-19 public health guidelines.

The organization was founded in 2016 in a multi-faceted effort by two social services organizations to help victims of domestic violence and individuals facing homelessness.

“We’re an organization that is very diverse in terms of the services we provide,” Maceri said. Some services include money management programs, individual/group therapy sessions, and group outreach (seen above).

The Annenberg Access Center in Santa Monica is one location where there has been a sharp increase of participants since the quarantine in March. The Access Center is a place that provides a variety of services including free meals, shower/laundry access, and on-site medical care.

Maceri attributes the earlier shutdowns of public libraries, coffee shops, and other public amenities as a major cause for the increase of people going to the Access Center. “They’re places for people experiencing homelessness, people who live in the street, who had access to some of those amenities and don’t now,” Maceri explains. Other things like public computer access and charging phones are even more limited to unhoused individuals, bringing more attention to the Access Center. Director John Maceri spoke on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell.

“Our goal really is to help scale and sustain the production of affordable housing,” Maceri said, “the way that we’re going to get beyond the crisis that we have on our streets is to build more housing to move people in.”

Interim and permanent housing under the new, stricter guidelines has also been a difficult issue The People Concern needed to adjust to.

“In our interim housing program, of course, to comply with the public health orders,” Maceri said, “we had to decompress the number of residents that we could have in many of those facilities.”

The People Concern’s Interim Housing Program provides daily basic living services and a place to stay for program participants transitioning out of homelessness. It also provides wellness activities, on-site medical care, and housing goal plans for each individual.

Participants are generally referred by other supporting nonprofits or outreach teams for the program. However, in order to lower the risk for current residents, The People Concern had to halt the arrivals of new referrals and new residents until it is safe to accept more in. The halting of new residents for programs has also affected areas with permanent housing projects and domestic violence shelters.

“One of the challenges of the pandemic is that it kept a lot of victims sheltering in place with their batterers,” Maceri said, “It’s also very hard for victims to leave; it’s harder for them to leave.” The Sojourn 24/7 Domestic Violence Hotline is still active today for victims who are looking for a way out of their situation regardless of the limitations of sheltering victims in crisis centers and other living facilities.

There are several ways to support current residents and The People Concern’s programs currently in operation as the pandemic situation continues to tread toward the new year. There is a list of items for people who want to make in-kind or non-monetary donations and AmazonSmile Foundation where 0.5% of your eligible purchases go to a charity organization of your choice. You can sign up for AmazonSmile by clicking here.

From The People Concern:

The People Concern believes no one should have to live on the street or in a violent household. Our staff, volunteers and those we serve work together to address the effects of homelessness, poverty, mental and physical illness, abuse and addiction. Our programs empower the most vulnerable among us to improve their quality of life – housed, healthy and safe – and become active participants in the community. We also work to educate the broader community and improve public policy.