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An initiative in Los Angeles County is trying to help the homeless by first connecting them with a place to live. The "housing first" model has been used in cities across the country in recent years to combat long-term homelessness.

In L.A. County, the Home For Good project focuses on those who are most at risk, aiming to end chronic homelessness in the area by 2016. Homeless-services providers are gathering information about the population and ranking individuals' vulnerability. Then, the goal is to move the most in need into permanent housing, quickly.

Research has shown that the "housing first" model can save money by keeping the chronically homeless out of emergency rooms, jails and shelters.

The approach has its critics, though, even among advocates. They argue that devoting so many resources to this subpopulation isn't helping to reduce overall homelessness.

Help On The Streets

AmeriCorps members Robert Harper and Charles Miller make daily rounds on Los Angeles' Skid Row, to seek out the most vulnerable people living on the streets. They work with other agencies to find them a permanent place to live — and they try to do it fast, Harper says.

"A person is out here about to die and you tell them, 'Sign a waitlist and wait for a year'? Come on, now," he says. "We're known as the 90-day people."

On a recent day, they visit Billy Ray West, who had agreed to meet them at a nearby fast food joint. West, 53, is an alcoholic and has lived on the streets for more than 30 years. If they can help him track down his birth certificate, he'll be under a roof within the next few months, no strings attached.

West is what these agencies would call "chronically homeless:" people who have been living on the streets for an extended period of time and may suffer from a disabling condition. They make up a quarter of L.A. County's homeless population but use three-quarters of its homeless resources, according to the United Way.

Before meeting Harper and Miller, West says, he hadn't received much help on Skid Row. But he says that's on him. "You know, I've just really been too damn lazy, just sitting ... around doing nothing. You know, just drinking all day," he says. "That's basically my fault, because I wasn't doing nothing to help myself."

Cross-Agency Collaboration

The Two-Way

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Circumstance might have led R&B musicians Syleena Johnson and Musiq Soulchild to meet, but it was chemistry that got them to record an entire album together. They sat down recently with Tell Me More host Michel Martin, and talked about the spontaneity of the project and the emotional underpinnings beneath the surface.

Interview Highlights

Sometimes we at Parallels see a story that's so compelling, we make an extra effort to chase down the facts. So it's in that spirit, this story from Reuters caught our attention:

"Strong beer, with alcohol content of 5-8 percent, accounted for 83 percent of all beer sold in India last year, according to research firm Mintel, a figure industry players say is the biggest strong beer share of any major market. Brewers expect that to grow to 90 percent over the next three to five years."

On a gorgeous night, some 4,000 people, dressed all in white, have come to dine in a public, yet secret place in New York's Bryant Park.

They have come for Diner en Blanc, an unusual pop-up event that takes place in 20 countries. The guests eat in splendor at a location they only learn about minutes before they arrive. The thousands wave white napkins to signal the beginning of the event.

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