We Are Los Angeles
Our Plan to Keep Angelenos Housed
Mayor Bass Declares Homelessness a City Emergency on Day One.
Mayor Bass is leading the fight against homelessness, but recognizes that the City cannot tackle this crisis alone: the county, state, and federal governments must be aligned and – critically – the private and philanthropic sectors must also play a role.
Since then, Mayor Bass has locked arms with partners in government at all levels to launch Inside Safe and other key initiatives to move thousands of unhoused Angelenos into temporary and permanent housing. In terms of scale, Mayor Bass has pledged to move a total of 17,000 people from the street and into housing during her first year in office.
Keeping Angelenos Housed is Essential
In addition to moving people indoors, to reduce homelessness in Los Angeles, the flow of individuals and families becoming homeless must be reduced in a substantial way.
27,000 Angelenos were evicted last year and many others experienced landlord harassment to encourage self-evicting. Additionally, with COVID-19 renter protections expiring, Angelenos across the city are now facing months of unpaid rent and the prospect of eviction.
Without preventing people from becoming homeless, the efforts to end or even reduce street homelessness cannot be successful – and private and philanthropic involvement are required to keep Angelenos in their homes.
“The most important action we can take for a person’s health is to prevent them from becoming homeless.”
– Jim Mangia, President & CEO, St. John’s Community Health
The Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles is Mobilizing
To help address the emergency need to keep Angelenos housed and stem the tide of homelessness, the Mayor’s Fund has started reaching out to at least 200,000 vulnerable Angelenos to directly connect them to the full range of health care, food, child-care, financial supports, and emergency legal services that are available to them.
The enormity of this crisis means our effort will not reach all who are in need – but we will reach hundreds of thousands who would likely not have been helped, and we will keep thousands from becoming homeless.
Through partnerships with community health centers, community organizations, person-centered full-service case management, expanded legal services, the City of Los Angeles’ FamilySource Centers, and Stay Housed L.A., Mayor’s Fund is working to ensure that Angelenos at greatest risk of becoming homeless have access to every source of assistance possible.
Not only is prevention crucial to saving lives, but is also a fiscal responsibility.
Savings of 60-75% in costs of services
Reduction in hospital emergency costs
Reduction in inpatient hospitalizations
Taxpayer savings
Every dollar spent on prevention services will yield $3 to $5 dollars of taxpayer savings over the following six years.
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness found that between 60 to 75 percent of the between $40,000 to $65,000 cost of providing services to a homeless individual could be avoided by keeping high-risk tenants in their homes.
A second report found a reduction of 59 percent in hospital emergency department visits and costs, and a 76 percent reduction in inpatient hospitalizations if a person remained housed or was provided with housing.
Three strategies to expand and build upon existing resources and services are being used:
Outreach
Outreach to inform renters of legal protections using community-centered strategies of direct engagement through door knocking, faith-based organizations, targeted phone banking, and expanded services provided to patients of community health centers and clients of FamilySource Centers and Stay Housed L.A.
Resource Navigators
Directly connecting people to a Resource Navigator (also referred to as promotoras or case managers) to provide one-on-one assistance with accessing services so that individuals are not left to navigate complex bureaucracies on their own.
Legal Support
The Mayor’s Fund will partner with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles to organize 150-200 private attorneys providing pro bono eviction defense to expand available legal assistance for those faced with a notice of eviction.
Outreach
Community-Based Organizations
Utilizing a skilled outreach team, led by Esperanza Community Housing and a network of eight community-based organizations organized by California Calls, 100,000 vulnerable individuals and families will be engaged through community-based outreach, door-to-door efforts, and phone calls.
The community-based organizations directed by California Calls will (1) identify people’s needs and interest in being connected to resources (2) gather additional information and (3) directly connect people to Resource Navigators for follow-up.
Our program includes outreach to undocumented renters and those living in unregistered housing units.
Participating Community-Based Organizations include:
- Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE)
- Black Women for Wellness
- Community Coalition
- Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
- InnerCity Struggle
- LA Community Action Network (LA CAN)
- LA VOICE
- Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE)
Outreach
Stay Housed LA
Amidst rising evictions and increased demand for this outreach program, the Mayor’s Fund will provide funding to Stay Housed LA for additional outreach and case management capacity.
RESOURCE NAVIGATORS
Esperanza Community Housing
To ensure a human-to-human hand-off is established, individuals in need of resources and services are connected to a Promotora (a specialized trained community member) who serves as a Resource Navigator.
Resource Navigators work closely with tenants to ensure that they are fully enrolled in all available public benefits and, if needed, connect them with legal services via the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.
RESOURCE NAVIGATORS
Community Health Centers
Community health centers serve approximately 100,000 Angelenos from their existing client bases – many at risk of eviction and homelessness.
With support from the Mayor’s Fund, these centers will hire additional caseworkers to ensure the Angelenos they serve are fully enrolled in all available public benefits and will provide directly connections with tenant legal services.
RESOURCE NAVIGATORS
FamilySource Centers
The City’s Community Investments for Families Department works with 16 community nonprofits that serve as FamilySource Centers (FSCs).
The centers work with low-income families and connect them to the full range of services and support for which they may be eligible.
Support from the Mayor’s Fund will enable the FSCs to expand their services, support, and Resource Navigator capacity to an additional inflow of individuals from the Mayor’s Fund outreach program.
The FamilySource Centers include:
- 1736 Family Crisis Center
- All People’s Community Center
- Barrio Action Youth & Family Center
- Central City Neighborhood Partners
- El Centro de Ayuda
- El Centro de Pueblo
- El Nido Family Center – Pacoima
- El Nido Family Center – Southwest LA
- Latino Resource Organization, Inc.
- New Economics for Women – North Valley
- New Economics for Women – Van Nuys
- P.F. Bresee Foundation
- The Children’s Collective, Inc.
- Toberman Neighborhood Center
- Volunteers of America Los Angeles
- Watts Labor Community Action Committee
LEGAL SUPPORT
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
The Mayor’s Fund is organizing 150-200 private attorneys to offer pro bono eviction defense to tenants who have received a Notice of Eviction.
Support from the Mayor’s Fund will cover the costs associated with hiring coordinators within legal services offices to train, support and coordinate the pro bono attorneys. Attorneys will be trained in specific aspects of the eviction defense process (e.g. answer clinics, discovery, motions, trial prep) to streamline the process for tenants.