On any given night in Los Angeles, roughly 58,000 people are homeless. Lewis Center Faculty Fellow Paavo Monkkonen moderated an important panel on this topic yesterday that delved into the question of whether homeless was at its core a housing problem. The question is counter-intuitive, but all three speakers- Inner City Law Center’s Adam Murray, PATH’s Chris Callandrillo, and the LA Housing Authority’s Peter Lynn- acknowledged the complexity of the issue at hand by answering both yes and no. Homelessness is a housing problem, but it’s also a poverty problem, a healthcare problem, and even a domestic violence problem, and the speakers shed light on the current efforts to improve our approach to homelessness.
The panel spoke to a full house of engaged students and members of the UCLA community. The event was organized by Lewis Center graduate student researcher Diana Benitez (MURP) with her Luskin colleagues Sheena Innocente (MSW) and Edith Medina Huarita (MPP), and was part of the larger Season of Service effort led by Luskin Dean Frank Gilliam to fundraise and advocate for important social issues.