“The county is definitely bringing resources,” Uribe said. “It’s very different.”

Some cities said no to these resources. city ​​councils West Covina And Norwalk Both rejected the district’s proposal for Pathway Home hotels to open there, amid community outcry.

But the program has made a big difference in Signal Hill, a small city of fewer than 12,000 people near Long Beach. In March, LA County helped Signal Hill move about 45 people from encampments directly into permanent housing.

As a result, the city has achieved the elusive “functional zero” white whale status; This means it has the ability to quickly find housing for anyone experiencing homelessness.

“Right after the operation we hit zero, literally zero, because everyone we knew was housed, including people living in cars,” Signal Hill City Manager Carlo Tomaino said. “That was literally everyone.”

Tomaino said the city tried to move people into homes a year ago, and the outreach team has developed relationships with anyone living on the streets. But Signal Hill, which has no homeless shelters of its own, wouldn’t be able to house everyone without the county’s resources.

The city has retained functional zero status ever since.

A couple falls through the cracks; someone else is buying a house

LA County launched its Pathway Home program in August 2023 by clearing a campground known as The Dead End along a cul-de-sac in unincorporated Lennox near the airport. During the operation, 59 people were moved indoors.

More than a year later, this past Tuesday, this section of road was empty; There was no tent in sight.

But nearby, a handful of people had pitched tents under the 405 Freeway overpass. Sitting on a milk crate on the hill above the tents, Jennifer Marzette, 52, ate Burger King for lunch with her partner, Enrique Beltran, as cars whizzed by.

The couple lived at The Dead End camp on and off for about eight years. But when county workers arrived to move encampment residents to a hotel, Marzette and Beltran were told they were not on the list, Marzette said. He thinks they probably weren’t in their tents when the staff first came to take names.

So they’re still sleeping on the street, a few blocks away from their old camp. They are trying to get into a cohousing or housing program but have encountered many false starts. They received a housing voucher, but it expired in January before they could find an apartment that would accommodate it, Marzette said.

In February or March, she said, they were told they could be moved into a “family room” at Exodus Recovery’s “Safe Landing” shelter. But they were two hours late for their appointment (Marzette said the complexities of life on the street sometimes make it difficult to get to places on time) and lost the place. Then, earlier this month, a social worker said they would get a room at a local hotel. That failed, Marzette said, and he suspected it was because they learned he had been arrested for domestic violence and briefly jailed in December for what he said was a misunderstanding during an argument with Beltran.

“I was crying the other day,” she said, describing all the opportunities she missed to have someone help her. “I felt like… that’s the way things work.”

Chris Felts had a very different experience. He had been homeless for twenty years; He slept on sidewalks, in parks, or in doorways when it rained. The 68-year-old man tried to enter the residence several times, but each time it took so long that he became discouraged and gave up. In February, the county moved him to a hotel in Santa Monica through Pathway Home. Then, in June, he bought his own studio apartment, financed by a rent voucher.

Now he is relearning to live indoors. He walks 5,000 to 7,500 steps a day in his neighborhood, tries to cook, and tries to take care of his health.

But Felts said the best part was finally having privacy.

“I have a chance to be on my own,” he said. “When you’re homeless you don’t really have that opportunity. “There will always be people around.”