Following the deaths this month of two newborn babies on Skid Row, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors called Tuesday for a ramping up of services for pregnant women living on the streets.
The call for action comes nearly three weeks after a woman gave birth Nov. 8 at East 14th and South Alameda streets. The baby died that day after being transported to Los Angeles General Medical Center, according to county records.
Six days later, the Los Angeles Police Department was called to another death of a newborn on Skid Row, a one and a half miles away from the first. The baby was found dead in an alley after police said he may have been dropped from a fourth-floor window. Officers located a woman who had been brought to a nearby hospital for pelvic bleeding earlier that morning. The woman was detained and released pending an investigation, police officials said.
After the two deaths, Supervisor Hilda Solis, whose district includes Skid Row, introduced a motion asking for county officials to craft a plan to improve outreach to homeless pregnant women. It passed unanimously Tuesday.
“The County must look for ways to improve health service delivery to pregnant people experiencing homelessness to better meet the needs of infants and birthing people, from pregnancy through postpartum care,” the motion read.
Sarah Wilson, the head of Harvest Home, which provides temporary housing for homeless pregnant women, said the deaths highlight a larger issue within the county’s array of homeless services: there are very few places for pregnant women to go.
“This has been an issue I’ve been trying to raise attention towards for a long time,” she said. “Most shelters here in Los Angeles do not allow pregnant women to stay in the shelters. They want people to transition to a safer place, but then that place doesn’t exist.”
Harvest Home’s two residential programs have enough room for 27 women at a time. This year, Wilson said she has received 700 calls from people needing help.
Many of the women, she said, had managed to stay off the streets until a pregnancy shattered any semblance of stability.
“We have women who have been couch surfing for a decade and wouldn’t consider themselves homeless until they realize, ‘Oh, I don’t actually have a place to go and be and have my baby.’” she said. “So this time of pregnancy can actually add to the number of unhoused folks.”
It’s unclear just how many homeless pregnant women there are in L.A. County at a given time. A 2016 study by the county Department of Public Health found that roughly 3% of 5,600 new mothers reported being homeless at some point during their pregnancy.
Studies have shown that homelessness increases the chances of health complications for the mother and the child, including premature birth and newborns requiring intensive care.
“Moving around from place to place, going to the hospital to get your prenatal care — that’s just not conducive to having a healthy pregnancy, a healthy baby,” said Terry Bright, director of programs for Elizabeth House, which she called the only maternity shelter in the San Gabriel Valley.
She said the shelter gets 30 to 40 calls a month from women needing services. It can take six at a time.
“It’s heartbreaking to read … about those babies that passed away. But this is our reality,” she said. “There’s not enough places for them to go.”
