Los Angeles to get $21.8 million in federal money to help shelter migrants
The city of Los Angeles will get $21.8 million in federal funds to help house and provide support services to newly arrived migrants, including migrant children living on Skid Row, officials announced.
City officials, with support from the county, had applied for Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to shelter newly arrived migrants who have struggled to find housing after arriving in Los Angeles.
Local officials and advocates have pledged to welcome migrants who have arrived in recent years and offer them help. But those efforts have been challenged by the city’s acute housing crisis.
Hundreds of migrant parents and children this year have gone to live at Union Rescue Mission, a privately funded shelter on Skid Row, while a smaller number have been living in tents on the sidewalk. Housing migrant families can be especially difficult because they are often not eligible for the same housing support as residents.
Advocates believe the number of children living on Skid Row will remain high as families in need of shelter confront a city with insufficient options.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the funds as part of the allocation of more than $380 million across the country through its Shelter and Services Program, which helps communities provide housing and other services for newly arrived migrants who are waiting to have their cases heard in immigration court.
The city will oversee the grant funding, which will be allocated to three local nonprofits — the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Clínica Romero and the Central American Resource Center.
The money can be used to provide shelter, including motels, for migrants and to offer support, including food, clothing, transportation and other services.
Mayor Karen Bass had lobbied federal officials for the money and in early August, five members of the Los Angeles congressional delegation, led by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles), wrote to FEMA officials, urging them to approve the funds.
In the last year, there has been a 45% increase in the number of families in L.A. County’s homeless system.
“The city has obligated a significant portion of their budget to providing resources for newly arrived migrants, but the city’s ability to adequately and humanely serve this population will be strained without additional support,” the letter said, citing reporting from the L.A. Times. “We worry that without federal assistance for sheltering, homelessness throughout Los Angeles will be exacerbated.”
L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis said the money would help ensure that migrants coming to the city get the help they need.
“These funds will help to provide much-needed relief to our shelter system and support recent arrivals who are facing homelessness, including in Skid Row,” Solis said in a statement.
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