Implementing the Skid Row Action Plan to Support a Safe, Thriving Community
In 2023, Change Well Project partnered with Los Angeles County to support the implementation of the Skid Row Action Plan—an initiative aimed at addressing the effects of systemic racism and deep poverty and transforming Skid Row into a safe and thriving community.
The residents of the downtown Los Angeles neighborhood Skid Row—many of whom have experienced extreme poverty and chronic homelessness—have long felt the impact of racial, social, and economic injustice. Yet community members celebrate Skid Row’s diversity and cultural richness—and seek to ensure that the neighborhood can find new ways to thrive. In 2022, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis announced the creation of a Skid Row Action Plan with the goal of increasing safety and wellbeing for community members through permanent and interim housing and critical supportive services.
To carry this work forward, Change Well Project has partnered with Homeless Initiatives Leadership (HI Leadership) and the Department of Health Services (DHS) Housing for Health Leadership to develop an implementation strategy for the Skid Row Community Action Plan. This in-depth stakeholder process brings together service providers, county and city staff, residents, and those who have accessed services in Skid Row to identify pathways to community empowerment and cohesion through resources and investments that reflect the community’s identity.
Skid Row Action Plan:
Community Recommendations
From August through November 2022, the Los Angeles Department of Health Services’ Housing for Health (HFH) and the Chief Executive Office Homeless Initiative (CEO-HI) brought together diverse stakeholders—including government agency leaders, advocates, service providers, and community residents—to outline the core components of the Skid Row Action plan. Through facilitating 15 workgroup meetings, these stakeholders identified a series of recommendations to improve safety and wellbeing across the Skid Row neighborhood. Recommendations focused on the importance of:
Increasing the availability
of and access to safe
permanent housing
Increasing the availability of safe interim housing and opening more pathways from interim
to permanent housing.
Creating a health and behavioral healthcare center that offers critical services for those in crisis and those seeking a low-barrier entrance into preventative and ongoing medical care.
Creating a Drug User Health Hub that increases the safety and wellbeing of those who use drugs through holistic support.
Creating a Safe Services Space that centralizes access to a wide range of care services and programs that support and empower vulnerable populations.
Additional economic and community development recommendations were developed by community members in support of the recommendations from
individual work groups.
Developing the Skid Row Action Plan
If you are a stakeholder interested in engaging in the development of the Skid Row Action Plan, there are numerous ways to get involved. If you have any questions, please contact us srap@wechangewell.com.
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Stakeholder Meetings
