LoonieLand™ vs. USC

🔎 What We Think About the New LA Framework (USC-supported)

"The new framework backed by USC is well-structured and backed by data—but structure alone doesn’t change lives. We’ve seen plans like this before: clean charts, noble goals, and big words like ‘equity’ and ‘system integration.’ But none of that matters unless the people executing it are held accountable—and the people living it are actually heard. It’s promising—but it’s still top-down. It doesn’t put power in the hands of the unhoused. It doesn’t cut through the red tape fast enough. And it still leans on the same systems that have failed for decades.

Let’s be clear: we need bold ideas. But we need bold action even more. Until then, this may just become another plan with a press release, not a result."

🔍 Summary of the USC‑supported Framework

  • LA County’s Homeless Initiative introduced a new framework involving Mainstream Systems, Rehousing, and City Partnerships to better coordinate services, racial equity, and housing support
    Source: homeless.lacounty.gov, today.usc.edu

  • The initiative is supported by USC’s Homelessness Policy Research Institute (HPRI) and Center for Homelessness, Housing & Health Equity (H3E) — offering evidence-based solutions and training
    Source: youtube.com, dworakpeck.usc.edu

  • USC analysis also highlights that metro areas with strong public housing investments show lower homelessness rates, reinforcing the strategy behind frameworks like LACAHSA and Measure A
    Source: dornsife.usc.edu, unitedwayla.org

🔍 What the Framework Promises

The new framework shifts away from fragmented, siloed programs and instead focuses on:
- Mainstream System Integration
- Embeds housing and mental health support across public agencies (health, justice, education)
- Rehousing Strategy
- Prioritizes rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing coordination
- City/County Alignment
- Aims to create stronger ties between LA County and cities to reduce turf wars
It’s evidence-informed, equity-focused, and structured around “systemic accountability” — with USC's Homelessness Policy Research Institute (HPRI) and others supplying data models and research to guide it.

✅ What’s Good About It

  • Data-Driven: USC brings solid research into what works and what doesn’t — this isn’t just guesswork.

  • Equity Focus: It calls out racial disparities and tries to embed fairness in allocation and access.

  • System Coordination: Instead of separate programs fighting each other for funding, it aims for cohesion.

  • Transparent Goals: Some documents propose outcome metrics tied to funding.

    ⚠️ Where It Falls Short (Still)

    -- Execution Risk: The real question isn’t the framework — it’s who’s in charge of executing it. LA has had dozens of “frameworks” over the past 20 years. What’s the accountability this time?
    -- Overreliance on Bureaucracy: Coordinating existing systems is great… unless those systems are fundamentally broken or underfunded.
    -- Still Top-Down: Even with all the right terms (“equity,” “collaboration,” “systems thinking”), there’s still very little grassroots ownership. No one’s handing power to the unhoused or frontline workers.
    -- Expensive and Slow: The risk is this becomes another Prop HHH — ambitious, expensive, and ultimately bogged down by red tape.

    ⚠️ The Ask: A Real Test, Not Another Plan

    **USC Framework** **Loonie Land**
    -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------
    Top-down design Ground-up, grassroots concept
    Still relies on broken bureaucracies Breaks free from the system entirely
    Built around agencies and partnerships        Built around **people** — the unhoused themselves
    Long timelines, long meetings Action now — proof of concept by doing
    Planners and politicians in control The unhoused become the planners and builders
    Centralized service coordination Self-sustaining community with embedded services
    Another “program” A **movement** and a **village that works**

    ⚠️ Why LoonieLand™ Matters?

    Yes, the new LA framework has money and institutional backing. But you know what it doesn’t have?
    *** The trust of the people suffering out there
    *** The creativity to try something outside the system
    *** The urgency of real voices who’ve had enough

    And that’s where LoonieLand™ has power. Because it’s not about waiting for politicians to deliver. It’s about building what they’ve failed to build. The system isn’t broken. It was designed this way. We’ve had enough of systems that only know how to count the unhoused, fundraise, and fail. LoonieLand™ is about rewriting the blueprint — not patching a rigged machine.

    LoonieLand™ is where:
    The unhoused help build what they will live in
    Support services are on-site, not miles away
    Cost per unit is a fraction of government programs
    The community is not temporary — it’s transformational

    LoonieLand™ can be a real-world testbed for USC-back LA's Homelessness Framework We’re inviting adoption — or at least, attention.

    Let LoonieLand™ be the proving ground. Let USC and civic leaders study it, support it, refine it.