The third floor of Impact Hub in downtown's arts' district was packed with more than 120 people who came out Tuesday night to consider and brainstorm solutions to homelessness in Los Angeles.

Hack for L.A.’s Civic Hack Night is a monthly event where technologists, data buffs, government employees, creatives—anyone with an interest in the public good—meet to learn and think about solutions to social problems. Anyone with a desire to help is welcome. Past Civic Hack Nights, focused on topics including community health and policing.  

The event was timely as the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on Tuesday that the rise in homelessness constituted a “state of emergency.” The mayor proposed $100 million  to help combat the problem.

Technically, the volunteer-run Hack for LA is part of Code for America, called a brigade. Brigade Captain Vyki Englert said part of the job is communicating to cities that often expect instant solutions without fully understanding the problem or what is needed to make solutions sustainable.

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"I like hackathons, if you treat them for what they are, which is great brainstorming sessions," Englert said.

This "sold-out" hack was a little different—Hack for LA partnered with Net Impact, an organization that "empowers a new generation to use their careers to drive transformational change in the workplace and the world," according to their website. Before serving pizza and breaking up into hacking groups, the partnership brought a panel of subject matter experts to discuss different perspectives on the problem.

Panelists included Jenn Ma-Pham, Director of Specialized Programs and Technical Assistance for the Downtown Women's Center, Vince Kane, Special Assistant to VA Secretary Robert McDonald, Chris Ko, Director of Systems and Innovations at United Way of Greater Los Angeles and Andrea Marchetti, Executive Director of Jovenes, Inc. 

The panel spoke for about an hour, delving into the decision-making and solutions surrounding the problem. Each panelist talked about problems specific to their organizations, which target demographic women, veterans and youth.

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"L.A. is ground zero for homelessness" said Kane.

Offering a simple macroeconomic explanation,  Ko offered, "If your vacancy rate is low, your housing prices [are] high and your wages are low, your homelessness is going to go up."

The panel agreed that insufficient resources was among the biggest problems. Taking questions from the audience,  panelists offered different solutions, with the main theme surrounding the "Housing First" model. The "Housing First" model advocates for housing people first, and then ensuring other resources, such as healthcare and addiction counseling, are "wrapped around" the recipient.

Once the panel adjourned, hungry hackers descended upon complimentary beer and pizza. Unfortunately, the crowd exceeded expected attendance and resources were low.

As the food waned, so did the crowd.

Approximately 30 attendees lingered to break into groups and "hack." Again, Englert said these events should be centered around generating ideas. Groups convened around tables marked with suggestions including "identification,"  "planning" and "outreach."

Brandon Gruzen, an operations manager, and Lisa Kim, a Los Angeles county employee, talked about planning.

"We wanted to figure out how we could sort of find people who are homeless or needed affordable housing and how to then be able to match them with the supply that's out there for the affordable housing," Gruzen said.

READ MORE: South L.A. Man's Fight Against Homelessness Highlights Deficits In Affordable Housing

The duo was animated, excitedly interrupting each other, as they named inspirations for their work.

"What is Frankfurt doing? What is Seattle doing? Tacoma? Just looking at how they're handling things and how we could apply here in L.A," Kim said, explaining their thought process. 

"We've got a nice little product going," Gruzen said, though he wouldn't share the project's details. "I'm going to say something too ridiculous right now, so I'm going say it's a work in progress."

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