When the Money Runs Out, You Find Out What Matters: Buenos Aires and the No-Exclusion Model

Buenos Aires is not a success story with a neat ending. It's a story about a city making hard choices during an impossible situation — and getting some things right that LA has been getting wrong for years.

Homelessness, Letters to the Housed, 2028 OlympicsPaul AsplundMarch 16, 2026#LettersToTheHoused #SecondGraceLA #BuenosAires #NoExclusion #HousingFirst #SystemRedesign #HarmReduction #LivedExperience #2028Olympics, LettersToTheHoused, SecondGraceLA, BuenosAires, NoExclusion, HousingFirst, LivedExperience, 2028OlympicsComment

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

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.

Letters to the Housed, HomelessnessPaul AsplundNovember 1, 2025EndHomelessness, RadicalHospitality, SystemicChange, SocialHousing, ViennaModel, LA2028Olympics, MeasureU, #AffordableHousing, HousingJustice, CommunityAction, TraumaInformed, SecondGraceLA, HousingFirst, PublicHousing, OlympicLegacyComment

When Fear Comes Knocking: Immigration Raids Push More LA Families Into Homelessness - Letters to the Housed

Over the past five years, anywhere from 127–230 Angelenos have lost their housing every day. But now, we're facing a perfect storm: immigration raids are pushing families into homelessness just as the January fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades have destroyed over 16,000 structures. California experienced a 3.1% drop in private-sector jobs within a single week after federal immigration raids—worse than the Great Recession or early COVID. With 600,000 people in LA County rent-burdened and 67% of undocumented households already struggling before the raids, fear itself has become a driver of homelessness. But solutions exist: direct cash assistance programs are proving effective, and LA's mansion tax has $14.6 million ready for deployment to help families stay housed.

Inching Forward Isn't Enough - Letters to the Housed

"We've lost the compassion to see these as real emergencies with life-altering complications." When almost seven people die daily from the effects of street life in LA, progress isn't enough. While Hollywood Forward proves that local organizing works—housing 50% of their neighbors—our emergency response systems still fail during the hours people need help most. From broken 2-1-1 systems to the promising new ECRC that closes at 5 PM, we're inching forward when lives demand we sprint. This is an emergency for all of us, housed and unhoused. We choose to let this continue. We can choose to end it.

Homelessness, Letters to the Housed, CommunityPaul AsplundJuly 18, 2025HomelessnessIsAnEmergency, SystemicChange, CommunityOrganizing, SacrificeAndSolution, PolicyChange, EmergencyResponse, HollywoodSuccess, LocalOrganizing, ServiceProviders, SecondGraceLA, LettersToTheHoused, LTTHComment

Dear LA Times Editorial Staff re Homelessness: I have some thoughts.

Many years after recovering from homelessness and building a great life, I started working on the streets, first in SF and now in LA, bringing direct services, such as hygiene, laundry, haircuts, clothing, etc., to people who had lost their homes…

HomelessnessPaul AsplundMarch 20, 2024HomelessOutreach, CommunityResilience, EndHomelessness, DirectServices, SupportingTheUnhoused, BuildingCommunity, HomelessnessAwareness, CommunityUnity, HopeForAll, SecondGraceLAComment

To End Homelessness in LA, We Need to Focus on Our Neighbor's Dignity and Potential

Walk through any neighborhood in LA, and you'll see fellow Angelenos without a place to call home. Mothers caring for children. Veterans who served our country. Hard workers who lost a job and couldn't find a new one. They are our neighbors, with dreams and aspirations, now struggling to survive.