Southwest L.A. Bulletin

From the Mayor's Office

Mayor Garcetti's Coronavirus Press Briefings

Find the most up-to-date information by watching Mayor Garcetti's latest press conference where he announced new measures to support small businesses in Los Angeles.

During this emergency, press briefings are scheduled everyday at 5:15 PM Pacific Time.

Watch Video Release here

MAYOR GARCETTI: ANGELENOS ARE ‘SAFER AT HOME’

Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a “Safer at Home” emergency order, calling on residents of the City of Los Angeles to stay in their residences and limit all activities outside of their homes beyond what is absolutely necessary for essential tasks.“

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County Board of Supervisors's Coronavirus Daily Briefings

Find more up-to-date information by watching the County Board of Supervisors's daily briefings every day at 12:30 pm until further notice

Watch Video Release here

Find LA County Channel here

Mayor Garcetti announces thousands of temporary shelter beds for homeless Angelenos as part of COVID-19 response

Mayor partners with City Council to put $20 million in reserve funds into relief efforts — including emergency shelter and supplies — and activates Disaster Service Worker program for City employees.

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Mayor Garcetti Orders Moratorium on Commercial Evictions Related to Novel Coronavirus

Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered a moratorium on commercial evictions of tenants unable to pay rent due to circumstances related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A provision in the order gives eligible tenants up to three months following the expiration of the local emergency period to repay any back due rent.

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Winter Shelter Program Update: Shelter Extensions

In addition to the shelter beds recently announced, many winter shelters will now be operational through September 30, 2020.

Find a Winter Homeless Shelter Here

L.A. Emergency Coronavirus Crisis Fund

As we undertake these efforts together, many Angelenos are eager to know what they can do to help. To answer this call, the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles has created the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. You can donate to this fund to help support families, provide critical services, and strengthen our emergency response

Learn More and Donate Here

Stay Informed About Mayor Garcetti's Announcements

Find summary information about resources and policies coming from the City of Los Angeles during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

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L.A. Jobs Portal for Angelenos out-of-work as a

result of COVID-19 crisis

The City of Los Angeles is coordinating an economic response to help Angelenos who have lost their jobs or have had their hours cut back as a result of COVID-19, so that people can find help and jobs while adhering to the Safer at Home orders issued by Mayor Garcetti and Governor Newsom. This site will be continuously updated with resources from the City, State of California and the Federal Government to help workers.

Learn More Here

Community COVID-19 Response Volunteer Interest List

At this time, the City of Los Angeles is not implementing in-the-field volunteers in response to COVID-19. However, we recognize that many people will want to help if such a need arises. The purpose of this form is to collect the contact information of prospective volunteers so that we can take action swiftly if the need arises. We will also use this information to help connect people to nonprofits and other agencies in need of volunteers.

Sign-up Today

Information about COVID-19 Testing

Mayor Garcetti announced more testing will soon become available to Angelenos. In the meantime, testing is limited and we are prioritizing access to testing for our most vulnerable neighbors. At this time, we are prioritizing the following groups:

Those with symptoms who are 65 and older
Those with symptoms who have underlying chronic health conditions
Those who are subject to a mandatory 14 day quarantine period due to a confirmed COVID-19 exposure (with more than 7 days of quarantine remaining)

If you or a loved one are eligible, please click here or visit corona-virus.la to request testing.

Below are the newest updates from Mayor Garcetti:

Additional proceeding re: Eviction Proceedings
- Residential tenants in the City of Los Angeles may not be evicted during the declared local emergency in the City of Los Angeles if the eviction is a “no-fault eviction” and any member of the household is ill, in isolation, or under quarantine.
- No party in the City of Los Angeles may remove occupied residential units from the rental market under the Ellis Act while this Order is in effect. Tenancies may not be terminated under the Ellis Act until 60 days after the expiration of this Order.

Parking enforcement will be relaxed and an extended grace period will be given to vehicles owned and operated by employees or employers who are engaged in manufacturing or healthcare activities listed as essential; more info is attached in the emergency order

For more information, click here
To assist both residents and businesses during the emergency period, the Mayor’s order allows restaurants to sell alcoholic beverages for delivery or takeout.
DASH busses are now free; Metro is asking all passengers to board busses through the back in order to keep drivers safe; if a passenger needs to board through the front due to mobility issues, they may still do so.
For more information regarding LADOT services, click here
All orders dated March 15, 17, and 19 with expiration dates have been extended until April 19

LAUSD Updates: Los Angeles Unified and Verizon Reach Agreement to Provide Unlimited Internet to Students Without Access. Read more about the agreement here. Yesterday, the superintendent also announced school closures to remain in place through May 1. Read more about that here. We need VOLUNTEERS to help distribute meals to kids. If you are available, please sign up here.

Below are the latest updates from County of LA (provided by Pilar Alatorre, Field Deputy at the Office of Supervisor Hilda Solis):

Los Angeles County Beaches are open, County Beach parking lots are closed, beach volleyball courts are closed
LA County trails are closed until further notice
All amenities closed until further notice and include but are not limited to: playgrounds, fitness equipment areas, basketball courts, skate parks, baseball, soccer, multi-use fields, tennis courts/pickleball, volleyball, and lawn bowling.
Operations Quarantine Housing Options:
- Dockweiler Beach as 3/23: Service Capacity 25
- Sheraton Fairplex as of 3/24: Service Capacity 100
- Sherman Hotel as of 3/26(tentatively): Service Capacity 70 Logistics
Working with CalOES to request/procure site managers for quarantine housing sites. Continuing to distribute masks to city law enforcement agencies. Working with LAHSA to request 200 shelter workers and 100 outreach workers. Working to streamline a process for donations. Resource ordering is in process for items including masks, hand sanitizer, gowns, and gloves
USNS Mercy Hospital ship operating at the Port of Los Angeles will not serve COVID-19 patients and is expected to arrive end of this week or early next week, but is on the way. Their mission is to alleviate hospital surges due to non COVID-19 patients.
California National Guard has been deployed to assist food banks statewide in serving residents whose needs have not been met. This has been described as a short-term deployment which will initially assist a food bank distribution warehouse in Sacramento County and will also assess the needs of other California counties that have requested assistance with their food bank programs. Los Angeles County has not requested National Guard assistance.

Department of City Planning: On Monday, operations for the public counters to stopped having in-person services and have shifted to online and a physical dropoff/pickup system at 3 locations: Fig Plaza, Marvin Braude, and West LA. For more info on City Planning's updated procedures, please click here.

Eviction Moratorium FAQ: The Housing + Community Investment Department (HCID) now has an eviction moratorium FAQ live on their website.

Resources for self-employed (pulled from CA EDD website)

If you are self-employed, you may have benefits available from EDD employment insurance programs that you or your employer may have paid into over the past 5 to 18 months. You may have contributions from a prior job, or you could have been misclassified as an independent contractor instead of an employee. Apply for the benefit program that best fits your situation. Visit Self-Employed/Independent Contractor to learn more.

Additionally, the County is working on resources for people in the "gig" economy and we will share once available.

Other Resources

Sharing immigration resources from the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs and attached is information from the County on charitable feedings.

Effective immediately:

Safer at Home: To further combat the spread of COVID-19, Mayor Eric Garcetti has issued a “Safer at Home” emergency order — ordering all residents of the City of Los Angeles to stay inside their residences, and immediately limit all movement outside of their homes beyond what is absolutely necessary to take care of essential needs. To learn about what you can and can not do during this time please visit corona-virus.la/faq.

Homelessness: 6,000 beds will be provided by the American Red Cross at local City recreation centers; 1,600 emergency shelter beds in thirteen City recreation centers will be operational by the end of this week with a plan to scale up to dozens more locations in the coming days. To fill the first shelter beds coming online, the City will work with the County, LAHSA, and other partners to identify individuals in the homeless population who face the greatest risk from the novel coronavirus.

LAUSD: On Wednesday, March 18, LAUSD and the Red Cross will open 60 Grab and Go Food Centers in the communities they serve. These centers will be open on weekdays from 7 am to 10 am. Each child can take home two nutritious meals. Locations of the centers can be found here. These will support students who are on lunch programs and would otherwise not have a meal. This will continue to be updated over the coming days so I encourage you to follow LAUSD on Twitter for updates at @LASchools and @AustinLASchools.

The American Red Cross Los Angeles Region needs your help to support the Los Angeles Unified School District's meal distribution centers. Volunteers can choose the shift and location they would like to volunteer at. Sign-up today

Small Business Microloan Program: In light of the sweeping impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on our small business community, the City of Los Angeles has responded swiftly and decisively to support our local, community businesses. The newly established Small Business Emergency Microloan Program now provides financing needed to strengthen small business enterprises in this time of acute need that have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Review the Reliance Tool Kit for Los Angeles Business and apply today.

Additionally, Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered a moratorium on commercial evictions of tenants unable to pay rent due to circumstances related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A provision in the order gives eligible tenants up to three months following the expiration of the local emergency period to repay any back due rent. Read More

LAPD: Effective Wednesday, March 18, all Geographic Area front desks and detective desks shall close to the public until further notice. Instead of going to your local area station, we are asking the public to use unique email addresses assigned to each of our 21 area front desks. Those emails will be monitored 24/7 and routed to the proper channels. There will be exceptions to the closures for specific business that requires an in-person meeting including, but not limited to: vehicle/property release, child custody exchanges, attorney visitation (with an individual in custody), bail/bond releases. A complete list of the unique email addresses can be found here. For Southwest LA residents, the following are LAPD email addresses that you can use to make reports: 77th@lapd.online; southtraffic@lapd.online; southwest@lapd.online.

Housing: Effective immediately and lasting through at least March 31, 2020, Mayor Garcetti announced a temporary moratorium on evictions for residential LA renters due to circumstances related to the coronavirus epidemic. These circumstances include loss of income related to workplace closure, child care expenditures due to school closures, healthcare expenses related to being ill with COVID-19 or caring for a member of the tenet's household who is ill with COVID-19, or reasonable expenditures that stem from government-ordered emergency measures. This does not mean that the tenant will not still be obligated to pay lawfully charged rent. Tenants will have up to six months following the expiration of the local emergency period to repay any back due rent. Tenets may use the protections afforded in the Mayor's executive order as defense in an unlawful detainer action.

City Council: The City Council has adjusted their meeting schedule in response to COVID-19 and will only be meeting 3 times this month: March 17, March 24, and March 31. You can stream the meeting here and today's agenda can be found here. As of last week, no visitors will be allowed into City Hall, therefore, public comment will be made available from the Spring St Forecourt located at 200 N Main St, 90012.

Resources

Southwest L.A. Community Resources

Many have asked about community resources. We will build a community resource guide to share among one another. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out via email (david.price@lacity.org) with specific requests for information. If you have any resources or services you'd like to share, please submit them here.

Learn more about Coronavirus

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is cooperating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to respond to the recent reports of a novel coronavirus. Read more.

Stay Informed

Please sign up for NotifyLA, our mass notification system for the City of L.A. that we are using to push out updates on COVID-19 response. Please share with your family and friends.

Sign-up here

Meals for Seniors in County of Los Angeles:

Workforce Development, Aging and Community services operates 100 congregate meal sites, primarily at senior centers and parks. The county is transitioning all sites that serve congregate meals to distributing packaged/frozen meals or providing home-delivered meals. These actions will ensure we continue offering meals to seniors, but do so in a manner that reduces coronavirus exposure and risk.

A complete list can be found at wdacs.lacounty.gov.
A map of detailed plans for each site is here:

VolunteerLA is conducting nonprofit needs assessment. Any information you can share about what your agency is doing in response to COVID-19, what your potential needs for in-kind donations, and volunteer opportunities would be greatly appreciated.

Submit Form Here

The Sempra Energy Foundation announced a $1 million hardship fund for small to medium nonprofits. Nonprofits can apply to receive a grant between $500 to $50,000! Sempra wants to make the money reach as many as possible, so they are looking for nonprofits that we have not already funded with Covid-19 support.

Learn More Here

Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs COVID-19 Resources

For information and resources for immigrants and information from the County on charitable feedings, click here

Learn More Here

Resources for self-employed

If you are self-employed, you may have benefits available from EDD employment insurance programs that you or your employer may have paid into over the past 5 to 18 months. You may have contributions from a prior job, or you could have been misclassified as an independent contractor instead of an employee. Apply for the benefit program that best fits your situation. Visit Self-Employed/Independent Contractor to learn more.

13 New Emergency Homeless Shelters

COVID-19 Emergency Assistance

If you or anyone you know is experiencing financial difficulty because of the current public health emergency, please contact ICAN. ICAN can connect you to resources that may be able to provide short-term assistance for food, housing, or small businesses. Connect to services here.

Human Trafficking Hotline and Survivor Resources

If you or someone you know are the victim of human trafficking, critical resources are available. Text the National Human Trafficking Hotline by texting BeFree (233733) or call (888) 373-7888.
Report a tip online here.

Free VITA Tax Prep Services

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) will assist with Income Tax Return preparation and E-File and Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). Services are by appointment only.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (424) 293-829

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