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    • Norwalk rejects Newsom’s Los Angeles County office; promotes history of homeless outreach work – San Gabriel Valley Tribune
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    Norwalk rejects Newsom’s Los Angeles County office; promotes history of homeless outreach work – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

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    Valeria Pérez helps serve food to seniors at the Norwalk Social Services Center on Tuesday, October 21, 2024. (Photo by Keith Durflinger, contributing photographer)

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    It has been more than a month since Governor Gavin Newsom placed the city of Norwalk in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

    As part of an effort to get local municipalities to provide more housing and address the homelessness crisis, Newsom gave examples of Norwalk and other cities that the state said had not done enough or were hindering progress.

    Since the first City Council meeting following the governor’s comments, Norwalk has been on a campaign to defend its image and reject accusations that the city is heartless and not committed to change.

    “I don’t think he really knows or has a full view of everything the city of Norwalk has done, everything we plan to do,” said Norwalk Mayor Margarita Rios.

    In August, Norwalk passed a moratorium on new homeless shelters and transitional housing. This in response to Los Angeles County’s attempt to open a temporary housing program at a local motel. Newsom’s first statement on the moratorium came on September 16, a day before the city voted to extend the moratorium another 10 months.

    At the September 17 City Council meeting, a video was played during the city manager’s remarks highlighting the city’s homeless outreach team, the HOPE Team (Homeless Operation Prevention and Engagement). ).

    After the extension, a series of criticisms and warnings from Newsom culminated in Norwalk complying with state rules. The law on the housing element is repealed by the Department of Housing and Community Development.

    Newsom mentioned Norwalk once again and Huntington Beach this week during a news conference announcing $380 million in state money would go to the Los Angeles region to address homelessness.

    Huntington Beach lost an appeal this week in the federal appeals court to have the city’s lawsuit against the state reinstated. Huntington Beach has declined to plan any more housing construction.

    Speaking in his office at City Hall on Oct. 21, Rios was adamant that Norwalk would not back down due to pressure from the county or state. He said he didn’t expect Newsom to influence Norwalk’s moratorium.

    He said state officials met with the city this month and plan to meet again.

    “At the last meeting, unfortunately, I had the feeling that they didn’t care about what we had done in the past and that is not right because we have worked very hard and invested a lot of our money and it has been successful… I don’t like it that they have dismissed what the city of Norwalk has done to serve the homeless population,” Ríos said.

    When contacted for comment on any new efforts to bring the city into compliance, a spokesperson for the governor’s office said there were no new updates.

    Part of the city’s thought process in enacting the moratorium to block the county’s Pathway Home interim housing project was born from past experiences with county housing programs. Specifically, Ríos mentioned Project Roomkey in 2020, which also took over the Saddleback Hotel.

    Rios called the 2020 project messy and the Pathway Home proposal didn’t do enough to convince the city that Pathway wouldn’t be a repeat of 2020.

    “There were a lot of questions that weren’t answered or there weren’t any answers and so there was a lot of hesitation in going down that path again because we knew the first time it didn’t work,” Rios said.

    A key part of Norwalk’s advocacy has been highlighting its Department of Social Services. Rios and city staff members have touted the department as unique in Southern California and evidence that Norwalk has been serving the community’s most vulnerable for decades.

    On a Monday morning last month, the department treated seniors to lunch as part of its senior nutrition program. It is one of several programs offered by social services. Social worker Miguel Ochoa, a Norwalk native, walked through a food pantry that serves the homeless and anyone in the city who needs food or support.

    Ochoa said having their own department gives Norwalk residents something unique compared to other cities that rely solely on the county.

    “They get an influx of people, so they try to get people in and out and try to get them services as quickly as possible,” Ochoa said. “We do it too, but we also have that time to really connect with the individual and, like I said, give them that human aspect.”

    Sergeant. Jordan Warren is one of eight members of Norwalk’s HOPE team. Under the city’s public safety division, the team’s primary goal is to reach out to homeless people and connect them with any resources they need, whether at the Department of Social Services or the nonprofit agencies it works with. contract the city.

    “Having the HOPE team really alleviates all those emergency calls and reduces the crimes that occur because we are constantly out there with bystanders getting them off the street. Helping them get to where they need to go.”

    Moving forward, Rios said the city is happy to work with the county and state to find solutions, but will insist on being part of the conversation.

    “In the past we have been subject to county and state mandates, orders and directions that did not fit the needs of our city and that is the most important thing,” Rio said. “We live here, we work here, we see what the need. We have to be part of the solution and we will do it.”

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