Pasadena Star News: Alhambra Unified seeks to help its hidden families — the homeless

Photo Credit: Alex Datig

By CHRISTOPHER YEE | cyee@scng.com | San Gabriel Valley Tribune

'...During the recent push to address homelessness in Los Angeles County — buoyed by Measure H, the quarter-percent county sales tax to fund homeless services — service providers have been trying to do more to keep people from slipping into homelessness because “it costs less to prevent someone from becoming homeless than to help them after they become homeless,” she said.

The problem, Miskey said, is that homeless service providers are tasked by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other government agencies with primarily focusing on helping those already on the streets. That focus should be broadened, Miskey said.

“Some of these families that are unstably housed come to a point where they will actually become homeless,” Miskey said. “People don’t immediately go from losing their apartments to being homeless, but those double-up or couch surfing situations eventually become untenable.”...'

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