A think tank .... right in our back yard .... thinking and talking about the homeless.

This is an article from the Santa Monica Mirror by Terence Lyons. "Rethinking Solutions to Homelessness in Los Angeles." There were some very good points in this article dated February 22, 2007.

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....RAND Corporation has been studying homelessness for 20 years, having published its first report on the subject in 1988, as noted by Iao Katagiri, its Deputy Vice President of External Affairs and Director of Community Relations. ....

On an evening on which the audience was filled with various "experts" in their own right – service providers, public officials, funding contributors and others – RAND presented a panel of: Ed Edelman, Santa Monica's Special Representative for Homeless Initiatives; Torie Osborn, Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa's special advisor on homelessness; RAND psychologist Suzanne Wenzel, a Senior Behavioral Scientist who studies homeless issues with particular emphasis on women; and moderator Paul Koegel, Associate Director of RAND Health, who has been with the organization since its early homelessness research.

The themes that emerged during the evening – spanning the speakers' presentations and the contributions from the audience – seemed to be four:

(1) Los Angeles must commit and plan not to manage homelessness, but to end it;

(2) the causes of homelessness today are both structural and personal;

(3) the "Housing First" model has proved to be the most successful solution, and

(4) the NIMBY attitude (Not In My BackYard) can and must be overcome.

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