CDA BIDs Forum Was A Success!
100+ Professionals Addressing Community Homelessness Trends and Approaches
Held: Thursday July 30, 2015 – 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Location: The Concourse Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport, 6225 W. Century Boulevard, Los Angeles CA 90045
The forum recognized that we as a BID community are often on the front lines of directly dealing with homelessness issues in our districts. However, we tend to be reactive when fighting ineffective and potentially detrimental legislation to remedy conditions. The BID community has a great opportunity to lead on this issue by coming together and learning about related trends and activities, and perhaps to adopt approaches that will benefit our districts and contribute toward ending homelessness.
Forum attendees addressed:
- What are the key trends in homelessness throughout the state in the wake of the official homeless count conducted in January 2015?
- What factors are contributing to the changing nature of homelessness in California?
- How does (lack of) housing affordability contribute to rising homelessness?
- How have changes in our criminal justice laws and how “re-entry” from jail or prison may be impacting communities?
- What are the trends in mental health policy and reform proposals that can assist individuals who need treatment?
- How are individual BIDs impacted by and what actions are they taking to address the issues?
- In what ways can business districts be constructive in policy development and systems change?
Download Forum Materials Here:
View Conference Agenda Stopping Low Level Crime LA Crime in Perspective BID Reentry Reintegration Realignment Notes from the Forum
Thanks to Laurie Hughes of the Gateway to LA BID for securing a hotel location and thanks to Jessica Lall of South Park (LA) BID for hosting and making the forum possible. Special thanks and appreciation to Steve Hilliard of Streetplus. CDA is pleased to have garnered and greatly appreciate the sponsorship of Streetplus, a company that provide safety and ambassador services to BIDs throughout the United States including South Park, Historic Core and Arts District in downtown Los Angeles. For more information go to: www.streetplus.net
Forum steering committee members include: Blair Besten, Karin Flood, Dion Dwyer, Marie Rumsey, Lauren Schlau, and Kerry Morrison. If you are interested in connecting with the committee, please contact kerry@hollywoodbid.org .
Thank you to all attendees for participating at this most important event, a first step to changing the way we understand and deal with homelessness in our districts.