AHF to City Hall: ‘Don’t Make Housing Homeless So Hard!’

In new Los Angeles Times ad (Sunday, June 27), AHF demands that City Hall ‘… lay out the same red carpet for low-income housing that you do for luxury condos.’

Producing low-income housing in Los Angeles takes too long and costs far too much

AHF will run the latest in a series of housing advocacy ads targeting Los Angeles elected and city officials in a full-page, full-color ad set to run this Sunday, June 27^th in the Los Angeles Times. The ad, headlined “City Hall: Want Homeless Housing … Then Don’t Make It So Hard!”, criticizes the city, noting that “producing low-income housing in Los Angeles costs too much, takes too long, and is maddeningly difficult.”

The ad states an obvious, yet difficult-to-remedy fact: “Homelessness is a human tragedy that requires urgent action.” AHF then suggests five areas in which City Hall has a chance to do the right things:

• Eliminate all city taxes and fees for non-profit low-income housing.
• DWP place low-income housing at the top of the list for installations and upgrades.
• Flex building codes for older buildings without sacrificing safety.
• Give genuine concierge service for permits and building inspections.
• Pre-approve rent vouchers for low-income tenants.

AHF sums up its demand on City Hall, urging city officials to: “Put the full power of city government behind bringing new low-income housing units online on an emergency basis because three unhoused people die on LA's streets every day.”

“With billions of dollars in federal and state money for housing, rent relief and homelessness now flowing to Los Angeles, the resources are clearly here,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AHF. “The question is: do our elected officials and other gatekeepers and stakeholders have the willpower and vision to think outside the box—or the tent—to come up with effective, innovative, short- and longer-term solutions and approaches to the crisis? They simply must step up now more than ever before.”

This latest housing justice ad is running in the Times on the heels of a community forum on homelessness, housing and hunger hosted Friday, June 25^th in Downtown Los Angeles by AHF’s Housing Is A Human Right (HHR). The “Community Hearing on Homelessness, Housing and Hunger” included three panel discussions with more than a dozen key local and state legislators—including two Los Angeles City Council Members—and other stakeholders who heard compelling testimony from people who are unhoused, rent-burdened, facing hunger issues and grassroots organizations working on the ground. The variety of stakeholders and speakers explored root causes and brainstormed solutions to the three growing humanitarian issues roiling the Southland as well as many other parts of California and the nation.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.5 million clients in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare

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In its LA Times ad, AHF sums up its demand on City Hall, urging city officials: “Put the full power of city government behind bringing new low-income housing units online on an emergency basis because three unhoused people die on LA's streets every day.”