By Karen Ocamb

Their stories are legion in 12-step meetings in West Hollywood and around Los Angeles: young men and old; handsome and barely presentable; some angry high school drop outs, some with impressive degrees for whom stealing liquor from the grocery store, sneaking into garages to sleep near still-warm car engines, dumpster-diving, begging, trading sex for a hit of tina or a shower and a comfortable bed became a way of life, now gratefully clean and sober and shocked they survived homeless on the streets. Some didn't.

Gays, lesbians and transgender people are among the 91,000 homeless who live on the streets and in encampments, vehicles and shelters on any given night in Greater Los Angeles County. According to a June 16 report by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), which conducted a street count of homeless individuals and families in January 2005, among the 91,000 individuals, 42 percent, or 35,000 people, have been homeless for more than a year, have at least one mental or physical disability, and extensively use acute care services. Additionally, there are more than 7,500 families and 16,000 veterans who are homeless.

The count was conducted after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development asked cities and counties that receive any of the $1.2 billion in federal aid to provide statistically valid counts when applying for grants. The survey reveals that homelessness in L.A. County surpasses that in New York, (estimated 40,000 homeless), Chicago (about 9,600), and San Francisco (5,600).

Some experts told reporters that the counts were low in some areas, failing to include the working poor who move in and out of motels, for instance. Toni Reinis, executive director of New Directions, told the L.A. Times that the number of veterans would probably rise when soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan, "often without resources or jobs and terribly traumatized, and their mental health needs are greater."

The report calculated demographic statistics based on a sampling of 3,300 individuals. Chronic substance abusers accounted for the highest percentage of the homeless at 47 percent with victims of domestic violence accounting for 12 percent and people with HIV/AIDS accounting for 4 percent.

The Board of Supervisors voted to allocate $24.6 million as part of the county's $19.6 billion budget to help alleviate the problem. However, an audit released by L.A. City Controller Laura Chick found that the city-county controlled LAHSA owes $5 million to subcontractors who provide services to the homeless with only $700,000 to pay its bills. "It didn't take very much delving and probing to come running out screaming, 'This place is a mess,'" Chick told reporters.

"Homelessness is one of Los Angeles' most pressing problems," L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement, announcing the formation of teams to correct the agency. "We cannot afford to allow the agency responsible for homeless services to put this vulnerable population and the many fine organizations that provide services to them at risk because of poor management."

Openly gay L.A. City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl agrees, telling IN that he is "joined at the hip" with Villaraigosa on fighting homelessness. "The bottom line is it's a big issue in city and county and we're going to have the same focus and attention that's given to other issues of significance," Rosendahl said. "Working with the mayor, we will develop plans and strategies over time and, as part of our homework, we are meeting with several groups with the same focus. This is a passion of mine. I'm outraged -- homelessness just gets worse. We have the largest homelessness right here and I'm not going to tolerate it."

The question of sexual orientation was apparently not asked during the survey, but gender identification was noted. The report deduced the gender breakdown as 69 percent men; 30 percent women, and 1 percent "transgender/unknown."

Bamby Salcedo, Program Manager of the Transgeneros Unidas Program at Bienestar Human Services, suggests that calculation is low since many transgender Latinas are undocumented and afraid of authority. "I know that there are transgender homeless out there and a lot of times they don't seek help because of discrimination and harassment," she told IN.

In the groundbreaking May 2001 Transgender Health Study, key researcher Cathy Reback of the Van Ness Recovery House reported that 33 percent of those in her study reported they did not live in or rent a home or apartment and "90 percent reported an annual household income of less than $36,000, including 50 percent that reported less than $12,000. Fifty percent indicated that sex work was a major source of income in the previous six months."

There have been no subsequent studies, Salcedo said; however, organizations such as People Assisting The Homeless (PATH) have taken notice of the homeless transgender population and asked for help from Salcedo and Shirley Bushnell, a transgender activist who has been working to educate law enforcement on transgender issues.

"The reason we went was because we had some complaints from members of the community about how they were housing people according to their genitals. The training was good and the staff was receptive, and they said that they were going to change their policies according to the gender identity law," Salcedo told IN.

While the LGBT community knows about homeless services available through LGBT organizations such as the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center (which has had hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grants cut in the last three years), few realized how deeply committed LGBT people are fighting the homeless problem in a mainstream context.

Art Mattox, L.A.'s first openly gay police commissioner, volunteered at the Midnight Mission downtown serving meals during Thanksgiving and organized the annual "Coat Drive" at Xerox where he was a top sales executive. But he became frustrated and wanted to do something more "systemic," he told IN during a recent tour of the new, privately-funded facility at San Pedro and 6th Avenues. Wallis Annenberg was one of the benefactors.

"How society is a reflection of who we are and we just can't treat people like cast-offs," Mattox said, adding that he took a 35 percent-plus pay cut to serve as the Midnight Mission's chief operating officer. "It's the best job I've ever had."

Mattox chokes up as he talks about the "little moments" that mean so much, like getting a mother with 10 children off the streets and into a motel, even if only for for one or three nights, "and putting food into the poor kids' bellies. It's not their fault that they're homeless."

Mattox has three goals: 1) serve the best quality food on Skid Row; 2) get as many people through recovery as humanly possible; and 3) raise enough money to do those two things. "All the rest is just noise," he said.

The Midnight Mission, first opened in 1914, serves up to 2,700 meals a day, much of which is "top quality" food donated by restaurants (like Patina) or venues like the Dodgers and the Hollywood Bowl. Right now the residential facility, for which being clean and sober is a requirement, is only open to men. But Mattox is working with the city of Inglewood to set up a facility for families. "Our strategy is to get them off Skid Row."

Service Employee International Union (SEIU) executive Gina Bowers just stepped down as chair of the board of the Lamp Community, a 20-year-old, Skid Row-based nonprofit organization that focuses on the most marginalized - those living with mental illness and other chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS. "Its 'housing first' options include private apartments, a drop-in center, and a community residence, all combined with wraparound supports," Bowers told IN.

"I became involved with Lamp right after I left The Gay & Lesbian Center" (where she worked on the communications staff,) Bowers said. "I was touched by the work the Center did with homeless gay, lesbian and transgender youth who lived in the transitional housing there. When I left, I was looking for ways to stay involved with direct service."

When Lamp's open lesbian co-founder Mollie Lowery gave her a tour, Bowers said, "there were faces I recognized from the Center. Suddenly I saw a connection. When youth age-out of services with the Center, where do they go, especially those diagnosed with chronic mental illness and they've been dually-diagnosed with drug and alcohol addiction and HIV/AIDS? Lamp is the only organization in L.A. County that is designed to serve the mentally ill homeless adults. I felt it was important to get involved and see what I could do to help the organization."

For more information or to volunteer, call the Midnight Mission at (213) 624-9258 or visit www.midnightmission.org; or The Lamp Community at (213) 488-9559, or visit www.lampcommunity.org.