Comments
iAUDIT! - As readers of previous columns may know, I have great respect for Union Rescue Mission and its approach to homelessness. Instead of incessantly writing about the system’s failures, I believe it’s important to highlight successful programs. Every few months, I have a discussion with Mark Hood, URM’s CEO, about changes in its programs. My most recent discussion with Mr. Hood covered the latest PIT Count and URM’s plan to expand its services beyond its doors.
Mr. Hood was a volunteer counter for the 2026 LAHSA PIT Count. He said the process was a mixed bag. Unlike previous years, when users reported problems with the count software, mark said it worked well and uploaded to LAHSA’a database as expected. He also said training was solid. Mark and his team of two other volunteers chose to walk their assigned area because he believes it’s too easy to miss people using the standard drive-by method. As others have said in previous years, he questioned the accuracy of estimates about the typical number of people in a tent or RV. He also said its too easy for a volunteer team under a timeline to find people in hidden places; he guessed the count misses between 50 and 60 percent of the people in a given area. His view is consistent with a RAND study that suggests the count may miss about 30% of the unhoused population, and a report from the Economic Roundtable that estimates the homeless population at close to 139,000. Despite persistent doubts about the count’s accuracy, LAHSA and City officials continue to use its numbers to claim reductions in homelessness.
Moving on to more positive subjects, Union Rescue Mission is expanding its services to a wider population in and around Skid Row. I’ve already described its method of assisting the homeless to reintegrate into mainstream society using a system of graduated responsibility and life skills training. URM is now partnering with UCLA and Pepperdine to provide health care for its clients and street medicine for those outside its doors.
Perhaps most significantly, it is building an “alumni program” to support graduates of its in-house recovery service, to ensure they succeed in independent living. Participants in the alumni program are placed in individual housing units, but given assistance with things like tracking expenditures to build practical life skills. They are also given the opportunity to learn skilled trades like welding or auto service, areas where there are shortages of qualified workers. Support services also include GED classes and confidence-building workshops. The goal is to give participants the mental, social, and financial structure they need to lead truly independent lives. To increase its stock of alumni housing, URM has partnered with The Change Reaction, a local nonprofit that supports programs assisting working-class families.
During our conversation, Mr. Hood mentioned the Trump administration’s move towards recovery and faith-based assistance, and away from the rigid Housing First policies that have dictated federal funding since the late 2000’s. He would like to see more emphasis placed on recovery and support and lamented the eruption of lawsuits challenging HUD’s new funding directives.
Regardless of what one thinks of Trump and his administration, challenges to the status quo of Housing First are long overdue. The Housing First/Harm Reduction model has become so embedded in the homeless services psyche that it seems only a serious shock to the system like the threat of defunding, will drive reform.
My occasional discussion with Mr. Hood and reading news about Union Rescue Mission and other organizations like SOFESA and Chrysalis restores my hope for real progress in LA’s homelessness crisis. Not all nonprofits are huge corporate entities, more focused on improving their finances than on assisting the unhoused. I believe these smaller, nimbler, and community-focused organizations are the true path to success. They meet individual homeless people where they are and address their needs as unique human beings instead of nameless symbols or sources of revenue. You will find their leaders in downtown missions or on the streets, not prowling the corridors of power at City Hall or standing behind elected officials wearing bureaucratic smiles at press conferences announcing another “great success” that is nothing more than illusion.
These smaller organizations are not the only path to success in addressing homelessness. There is no single solution, but a spectrum of interventions that range from simple monthly stipends to long-term structured care for the most ill. The kind of recovery and reintegration programs used by URM and others should be a few among several solutions in what the US Interagency Council on Homelessness calls a “toolbox” of programs to address homelessness. But it is refreshing to see some organization achieve success where too many others continue down a failed path.
(Tim Campbell is a longtime Westchester resident and veteran public servant who spent his career managing a municipal performance audit program. Drawing on decades of experience in government accountability, he brings a results-driven approach to civic oversight. In his iAUDIT! column for CityWatchLA, Campbell emphasizes outcomes over bureaucratic process, offering readers clear-eyed analyses of how local programs perform—and where they fall short. His work advocates for greater transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness in Los Angeles government.)
