What If We Gave People Jobs Instead of Excuses? Lisbon's Model and What LA Should Adopt

Lisbon built a restaurant where people experiencing homelessness do the cooking and serving — and 68% landed permanent jobs. LA has the workforce crisis, the funding tools, and the Olympic deadline. What we're missing is the will to connect the dots.

Homelessness, Letters to the Housed, InspirationalPaul AsplundMarch 10, 2026LettersToTheHoused, SecondGraceLA, SocialEnterprise, HousingFirst, WorkforceDevelopment, EndHomelessness, RestaurantIndustry, RadicalHospitality, SystemicChange, HousingJustice, Olympics2028, CommunityActionComment

The World Is Solving Homelessness. Why Isn't LA?

While Buenos Aires redesigned their entire homeless response system during an economic collapse, Greater Manchester cut rough sleeping by 42% through prevention, and Lisbon is moving people from streets into jobs — Los Angeles approved $843 million in homeless spending that includes nearly $200 million in cuts. The world knows what works. The only thing LA lacks is the will to try.

Homelessness, Letters to the HousedPaul AsplundMarch 3, 2026LettersToTheHoused, SecondGraceLA, EndHomelessness, HousingFirst, LosAngeles, HomelessnessResponse, 2028Olympics, SystemicChange, RadicalHope, HousingJustice, IGHVanguard, CommunityAction, TraumaInformed, SocialJustice, OlympicLegacyComment

Radical Hope in the Face of State Violence from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

Confronting Minnesota's federal occupation through the lens of family history, James Baldwin, and Ai Weiwei—and why radical hope demands local action now.

Immigrant Rights, Letters to the Housed, Radical HospitalityPaul AsplundJanuary 26, 2026RadicalHospitality, ImmigrantRights, MutualAid, CommunityAction, EndHomelessnessComment

We Were Born For Times Like These (Right?) from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

I spent the first 33 years of my life in Minnesota. Watching the fascist ICE raids in a place I know so well has hit me hard. But I stay hopeful—not that things will calm down, but that we were born for times like these.

Letters to the Housed, Radical Hope, Immigrant RightsPaul AsplundJanuary 19, 2026RadicalHope, SocialJustice, CommunityAction, Immigration, ICE Raids, ActivismComment

Part 3: The Money and the Mechanisms from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of Second Grace LA

Los Angeles has $700-790 million in available funding to build 11,700-15,000 Vienna-style social housing units by the 2028 Olympics. Learn how Measure ULA, Palisades reconstruction, and Olympic funds can solve our housing crisis with proven cost-rent financing models.