Redondo Beach hits a homelessness milestone (with an asterisk)

Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

• Redondo Beach brought its homeless numbers to ‘functionally zero.’ What does that mean?
• MAGA loyalist Matt Gaetz is Trump’s pick for attorney general. Will he be confirmed?
• 21 holiday markets in L.A. to find one-of-a-kind gifts for everyone on your list.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper.

Functional zero homelessness is in the eye of the beholder (or city)

Redondo Beach marked an achievement recently as the South Bay Cities Council of Governments declared the local municipality had achieved “functional zero” for homelessness in the first six months of 2024.

Broadly, that means the services in place to get people off the streets are helping a greater number of people than are entering homelessness in the city of nearly 68,000 people. But the official term has a more specific definition (more on that below).

The milestone is noteworthy, as Times senior writer Doug Smith recently reported.

“Since 2017, on a per capita homelessness rate, the city … has dropped from 11th to 51st among [Los Angeles] county’s 56 cities that had homeless people,” Doug wrote, citing a newsroom analysis of homeless count data.

What does “functional zero” actually mean?

That depends on who’s defining it. Doug notes that the South Bay Cities Council of Governments’ declaration is “an informal claim.”

Redondo Beach’s key metric differs from the one developed by the national nonprofit Community Solutions through its Built for Zero program, designed to indicate “that homelessness is measurably rare and brief for a population.”

A bike path in Redondo Beach photographed on March 26, 2020.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

According to the group, reaching functional zero “means that the number of people experiencing homelessness at any time does not exceed the community’s proven record of housing at least that many people in a month.”

Built for Zero measures success by how many unhoused people enter some form of permanent housing rather than temporary solutions like shelter beds.

The South Bay Cities Council of Governments consulted with Beth Sandor, that program’s director, but ultimately wrote its own standard, as Doug explained:

“It requires a city to move people off the streets into shelter or housing in a median of 90 days and to have more people leaving homelessness than falling into it.”

Based on that looser definition, Redondo Beach has had success in getting unsheltered people off the streets but not changing everyone’s status from unhoused to housed.

Doug wrote that, in the first six months of 2024, the city reported:

• 31 unhoused individuals went to shelter
• 14 found permanent housing
• 11 moved into mental health, detox or domestic violence facilities
• 10 were reunified with families (which may count as permanent housing, depending on the situation)

It’s an important distinction to make as local, state and federal governments pour billions into reducing the homelessness crisis.

But even with that broader definition, the city is making clear progress in reducing unsheltered homelessness in California, where roughly half of all unsheltered people in the U.S. live.

A report from State Auditor Grant Parks back in April found that most unsheltered people in the state placed into temporary housing — overwhelmingly emergency shelters — do not move on to permanent housing.

So how did the city achieve its goal?

Officials began laying the groundwork even before the local “functional zero” goal was set in 2022.

That included a concerted move away from petty-crime arrests in the form of a monthly homeless court, which prioritizes treatment, shelter and housing over jail time.

“The city built a village of 20 tiny homes, leased five rooms in a single room occupancy hotel, formed relationships with the home sharing nonprofit SHARE! Collaborative Housing and low-income housing provider Soul Housing,” Doug explained. “With $300,000 from its own budget, along with county, state and federal grants and donations from service providers, the program has grown. The city now leases 18 SRO units and is adding 25 tiny homes.”

But the act of getting someone off the street isn’t a result solely of city policy or funds; it also requires compassionate, tenacious face-to-face work by a group of housing navigators.

Doug followed one of them, Lila Omura, as she reached out to people sleeping outside and tried to connect them with services. You can read more about her tireless effort in Doug’s story.

Lila Omura, left, shares a light moment with Vietnam veteran Wesley Hesson, 78, who she found living homeless in Veterans Park in Redondo Beach on Oct. 15.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

If functional zero sounds familiar, that may be because I wrote about it earlier this year. Kern County and its largest city Bakersfield achieved that milestone in early 2020. But in that case they met the Built for Zero standard, meaning people were exiting homelessness and finding permanent housing at an equal or greater rate than those entering homelessness.

But Kern County’s success didn’t last long, thanks in part to housing costs, shifting city leadership and a global pandemic. Still it showed what’s possible when local or regional programs are able to match the need with the right data, resources and a focus on permanent housing.

“There are excellent programs providing excellent services that people need,” Sandor told me in an interview last year. “The question is: Is all of that work adding up to fewer people experiencing homelessness this month than last month?”

Today’s top stories

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) at the Republican National Convention in July. Gaetz resigned from Congress on Wednesday after President-elect Trump nominated him for attorney general.

(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

Trump nominated Matt Gaetz as his attorney general. Here’s the latest on the incoming Trump administration

• Trump said Gaetz would “root out the systemic corruption” in the Justice Department. But will his nomination be confirmed by the Senate?
• Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s ties to Trump pose potential conflicts for his businesses. Here’s a look at his federal contracts.
• What would “government efficiency” look like if Musk gets his way?
• And Republicans won the House majority, completing an election sweep.

Why did some homes survive the Mountain fire and others perished?

• It’s a question many are now asking in Los Posas and Camarillo Heights. And it comes amid a debate between scientists and fire experts over whether homeowners have any control.
• The Mountain fire is the most destructive in years — and it could have been much worse.

Los Angeles hopes to transform wastewater into clean drinking water for about 250,000 people

• City officials plan to break ground next month on a water recycling facility in the San Fernando Valley, a project that will cost $740 million.
• The news comes as officials seek to expand the city’s water supply in an effort to prepare for worsening droughts compounded by climate change.

A cellphone ban at L.A. public schools will also include smart watches

• LAUSD revealed new details on its cellphone ban that is now expected to begin Feb. 18, a month later than originally announced.
• District leaders acknowledged that implementing the ban will be a sea change at middle and high schools, where most students carry phones.

What else is going on

• The man who prompted an investigation of Democratic donor Ed Buck was found dead on a South L.A. sidewalk.
• Los Angeles dialed back its claim that hundreds of cops were put at risk after their photos were made public, saying most of them weren’t working undercover.
• A Moreno Valley history teacher’s fate is uncertain after he gave an anti-Trump rant in the classroom.
• Wrapping a surfboard in very bright lights — like aquatic Christmas trees — could make the surfer less interesting to great white sharks, a study suggests.
• They said a bear attacked their Rolls Royce. But the real culprit was even stranger.

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Commentary and opinions

• Trump’s staggering win isn’t a landslide. Democrats, learn the lessons and move on, columnist Jackie Calmes writes.
• We now live in a Prop. 187 America, columnist Gustavo Arellano argues.
• Voters just passed L.A. County’s most important government reform in decades, the Editorial Board writes.
• L.A. County voters agreed to another tax to reduce homelessness. Let’s make sure it does, the Editorial Board writes.

This morning’s must reads

(Courtesy of Zhang Shumei)

China’s queer influencers thrive despite growing censorship. Amid China’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights, queer influencers are using creative strategies, subtle hashtags and coded language to stay one step ahead of social media censors and provide much-needed support to the community.

Other must reads

• The brightly colored “CoComelon” cartoons have become a mass media juggernaut for preschoolers. But they’ve also raised questions about what kids should be viewing.
• Unable to afford a bigger house in L.A., a lighting designer instead built a stylish ADU for $230,000.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your downtime

Shop for ceramics, jewelry and other handcrafted wares during the winter season at the holiday markets in Los Angeles.

(Los Angeles Times photo illustration; photo credit: Heather Levine, Renegade Craft, In Todo Craft Fair)

Going out

• 🎁 These 21 holiday markets in L.A. offer one-of-a-kind gifts for everyone on your list.
• ⛷️ Thinking of hitting the slopes? Here’s everything to know before heading to California’s popular ski resorts.
• 🌊 California’s coastal King Tides Project kicks off this weekend. Here’s how you can help.
• 👾 You can play games under the stars at the Music Center, which turns into an outdoor arcade Friday and Saturday.
• 🎙️ A new comedy show and mixer for divorced singles debuts Saturday at Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica.

Staying in

• 📺 Charles Manson may have killed people before assembling his notorious “family,” according to an upcoming docuseries on Peacock.
• 🕵️ Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch star in “The Day of the Jackal,” a Peacock series about an assassin being chased by a British intelligence officer.
• 🔌 Amazon plans to shut down Freevee, its no-cost streaming service.
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for German potato balls.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

A question for you: What books, movies, TV shows, songs or works of art have inspired you?

Theo Moreno writes: “It will be 60 years old this coming summer, but Bob Dylan’s song ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ still knocks me over with its brave statement of self every time I hear it. Powerful in lyric and stance, it is a masterpiece by the wordsmith supreme of our time. It never fails to give me a dose of courage. Thank you, Bob.”

Feel free to email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might be included in the newsletter this week.

And finally ... from our archives

Rep. Nancy Pelosi won election as leader of the House Democratic minority on Nov. 14, 2002, becoming the first woman to head a party in either chamber of Congress.

“After the vote, Pelosi basked in the gender precedent Democrats had just set,” Times reporter Nick Anderson wrote at the time. “As a reporter attempted to break into her remarks with a question, she cut him off gleefully: ‘I’m not finished yet. I’ve been waiting over 200 years!’”

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Defne Karabatur, fellow
Andrew Campa, Sunday reporter
Hunter Clauss, multiplatform editor
Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Stephanie Chavez, deputy metro editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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