To the editor: The Times’ damaging coverage of Skid Row’s nonprofit housing providers continued on Jan. 5 with a claim in one of its newsletters that “on Skid Row, the housing network for Los Angeles’ neediest nearly collapsed.” ”. The newsletter blurb linked to an article with an absurd headline that said nonprofits working to house Los Angeles County's more than 75,000 homeless people are somehow making the problem worse.
That is a ridiculous statement and the article does not substantiate it.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, one of the entities highlighted in the article, is thriving. It has purchased more than 15 properties in Los Angeles alone, currently housing more than 1,400 of the city's most needy low-income people, with more than 500 truly affordable units in the pipeline.
The truth is that Los Angeles city and county governments are failing and relying on nonprofits to fill the growing gaps without any substantial support. They then scapegoat nonprofits instead of taking responsibility for their ineptitude.
The Times must stop demonizing the nonprofits that do the hardest work to get people off the streets and into affordable housing.
Betty Doumas-Toto, Northridge
The writer is a policy advocate at Housing Is A Human Right, an initiative of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
