Redondo Beach recently celebrated becoming the first city in the South Bay to reach “Functional Zero Street Homelessness.”
“The goal for functional zero is to get people off the street within 90 days of their homelessness experience and Redondo Beach can now get people off the streets within 14 days,” said Ronson Chu, the homeless services senior Project Manager.
Redondo Beach was chosen by the South Bay Cities Council of Governments to develop ways to reduce homelessness regionally. Almost four years ago, significant steps in that journey were taken with the homeless court, a once-a-month opportunity to address the city’s petty crime problem.
Since we showed you the court in 2020, 169 defendants have participated in homeless court, 74 are in permanent housing, 63 are in interim housing and fewer than 2% have returned to court on new charges.
“Sometimes when you drag your past along with you, you don’t get that; you don’t feel like you get that second chance,” said Valerie Campos, a housing navigator for Harbor Interfaith .