homeless

More middle-class professionals join homeless ranks – LA Daily News

Troy Anderson interviews Andy Bales and some friends of ours at Union Rescue Mission regarding the increase in middle-class professionals who are struggling with homelessness.

Colin never thought he’d wind up on Skid Row.

As a middle-class father and business owner, he had achieved the American dream. But that all came crashing down recently when his coffee-bean importing business went under and the home he was renting in El Segundo went into foreclosure.

With nowhere else to turn, the Westmont College graduate sought shelter for his family at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles.

Andy Bales, president of the Union Rescue Mission, said he’s also seeing professionals and other middle-class people coming into the mission who are experiencing homelessness for the first time, including former mission donors.

Click here to read the article.

Economic Crunch Hits Downtown Non-profits – LA Downtown News.com

Richard Guzman writes about the drop in donations to organizations working on Skid Row.

Andy Bales has seen a lot of hard times during his years as CEO of the Union Rescue Mission. But now, the organization that for more than a century has helped those down on their luck is in need of desperate help of its own.

“We’re down about 25% over our normal donations, so we’re barely hanging in there,” Bales said. “I’ve never seen it this bad.”

Click here to read the full article.

A Precious Man Known Only as John

The hearts of URM staff and guests are going out to a gentleman known as John, or Grimley, who was homeless and brutally doused with gasoline and lit on fire, causing his death this past Thursday evening in the Mid-Wilshire area of downtown. Our hearts also go out to the wonderful people who looked out for him each day, and to those who tried to save him from the fire.
His tragic death re-emphasizes the need for our work of loving people who have lost their homes and everything that they had only to find themselves reduced to trying to survive on the tough streets of our city. It also motivates us to speak up in an even stronger way that each one of our friends who is homeless is a precious human being, made in the image of God, and highly valued by God. That is why I strive each day to make sure that Union Rescue Mission stays focused on our calling to reach out to the folks who the rest of the world seems to have given up on and forgotten. As we approach our 118th year of serving the least and the lost of Los Angeles, we will continue that commitment in the years ahead, hoping that one day our great city will live up to the title of the City of Angels by making sure that not one precious human being is left to live on these mean streets. -Rev. Andy Bales

Homeless man dies after being set ablaze in LA – AP

Raquel Maria Dillon of the Associated Press reports on the sad death of a homeless man in Los Angeles.

 Andy Bales, chief executive of the Union Rescue Mission on downtown’s Skid Row, said the incident was “part of a long history of people attacking vulnerable homeless individuals in Los Angeles.”

“They think the person is less than human because they happen to be homeless. I don’t know how you could do that to another human being,” Bales said.

Click Here to read the rest of the article.

“Homeless in America” – LA Times Series

LA Times has written a number of great articles on homelessness and skid row.  Here are just a few of the articles:

There are a number of great up-to-date articles on the issue of homelessness. Click Here to visit the web page.

“Finding L.A.’s hidden homeless” – LA Times

Check out this great article written by Jessica Garrison of the Los Angeles Times.

“To most people, it’s just trash: A scrap of dirty blanket visible under some stairs. A glimpse of blue tarp peeking out of a bush. A bag of recyclables parked discreetly behind a concrete column.

But Courtney Kanagi, an outreach worker, has learned how to decode bits of urban detritus that most people ignore. She knows what these signs mean: the crawl space beneath the stairs was someone’s home.”

The article will give you good information on how many of our homeless friends live each day of their life. Click here to read the article.

“L.A. Council gives early OK to patient ‘dumping’ fine” – LA Times Article

This article written by Cara Mia Dimassa of the LA Times talks about the recent dumping of patient’s on skid row.

“Hospitals that leave homeless patients on Los Angeles streets without their consent would be fined $25,000 under an ordinance tentatively approved today by the City Council.”

“The ordinance would make it a misdemeanor offense for hospitals to transport a patient to a location other than his or her home without written consent. It is intended to end the practice of leaving vulnerable patients on skid row.”

Click here for the rest of the article.