Housing Justice Update

Hello Brilliant Corners!

Meet our AMAZING Housing Justice Manager Jose Osuna. Jose would like to share a few updates on some important campaigns and initiatives we are actively involved in to promote housing justice in our community.

“First up, the Fair Chance Housing Initiative: this is a campaign to create an LA County ordinance to make it illegal to ask about incarceration in housing applications. This effort is aligned with Brilliant Corners’ Advocacy framework, as barriers to housing is one of the key factors in reincarceration.

The Fair Chance Housing Initiative is a continuation of the work that began with the Ban the Box campaign in 2010 when advocates mobilized in LA City and County to make it illegal to ask about incarceration to remove the barriers to gaining employment and access to housing for people exiting the justice system. Ultimately, the Ban the Box campaign shifted its efforts to focus on employment. Now, the Fair Chance Housing Initiative for LA County campaign will pick up the Ban the Box efforts but with a focus on housing accessibility. Brilliant Corners is in conversation with several reentries and housing partners on this campaign, which will ultimately seek an LA County Ordinance to make it illegal to ask about incarceration on housing applications. We’re also excited to see that the LA City Council recently introduced a similar measure to remove barriers to housing for applicants.

We have already had great internal stakeholder conversations with members of our Breaking Barriers team, Housing Acquisition, and our policy working group. We are also engaging our Property Management team, all with the goal of building internal alignment so that we can include and mobilize all Brilliant Corners’ important stakeholder groups—from justice-impacted participants to property providers—in building support and momentum for this campaign.

We have identified an LA County Supervisor to potentially champion this ordinance, with the goal of having a motion introduced in the fall or winter of 2022. Between now and then, I will continue working with Californians for Safety & Justice to research what other similar policies exist, craft language, and continue the engagement and outreach to our LA County Board of Supervisors. Additionally, we are building a coalition of reentry and housing providers that are aligned with this effort and will look to summer 2022 for broader organizing and engagement without internal and external stakeholders. We are excited to share upcoming opportunities for staff, clients, and our network of landlord partners to join this important campaign.

Last month, I was invited to join our community partners Justice-LA and Dignity and Power Now at a rally to press the LA County Board of Supervisors to follow through on the plan to close Men’s Central Jail. I was honored to share my own story and call on the Supervisors to make good on their commitment to close MCJ. You can read more about the rally and the proposal to close MCJ, which was issued by a workgroup led by our partners at the LA County Office of Diversion and Reentry (ODR), here. Closing MCJ would mean fully investing in pretrial services, permanent supportive housing, and more mental health beds for folks who are identified as eligible for mental health diversion out of jail settings. It would also mean an expansion of ODR’s housing program, and overall, the plan affirms that permanent supportive housing is the solution, not incarceration.

And in my home community of Long Beach, I am excited to share that after many months of advocating, we have finally formed a Long Beach Reentry Advisory Council to inform the reentry process and engage folks with lived experience, service providers, and probation. I am working on this with BC / Breaking Barriers alum Chelsie Nicholson. We will be doing a ‘Reentry Week’ coming up in June – providing resources, workshops, renters’ rights, and education, and workforce development support. Housing, employment, and health are the cornerstones of our focus.”