Sunday, September 5, 2010

International News

Los Angeles, CA, USA

The Not-For-Profit News Network in the US, NPR (National Public Radio), is currently running a three part series on the the effect of homelessness in LA. The area with the highest population of homeless persons is still known as skid row. The presentation is very well produced. Their is audio, text, as well as an interactive flash presentation seen to the left of this text. Below are links to parts 1 and 2 of this series. Below the links information from LASHA regarding the 2007 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count.

2007 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count (Additional information from LASHA)

On January 23, 24, and 25, 2007, the 2007 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count was performed by using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-recommended practices for counting homeless persons and estimating the number of homeless people on any given time and over the course of a year.

This comprehensive study includes:

  1. Street Count
  2. Shelter and Institution Count
  3. Homeless Demographic Survey
  4. General Population Telephone Survey
  5. Statistical Projection

Information gathered from the Homeless Count and Surveys will be useful for:

  1. Planning how to best invest public resources to reduce homelessness.
  2. Demonstrating a need for resources in the Continuum of Care application.
  3. Raising public awareness about the issue of homelessness.
  4. Accurately measuring and identifying the needs of populations that are hardest to serve (chronically homeless).
  5. Measuring performance in eliminating homelessness, particularly chronic homelessness.