LA Rehousing System Receives Funding to House 500 Unsheltered Women on Skid Row

On October 26, the California Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency announced that it awarded a $15 million grant to LAHSA and the homeless rehousing system to provide shelter and a path to permanent housing for 500 unsheltered women and families living on Skid Row. This vital funding will further LAHSA’s goal of reducing unsheltered homelessness. According to the 2022 Homeless Count, this grant could house 60% of the women experiencing homelessness on Skid Row.

“The state of California’s investment in LAHSA’s plan creates an exciting opportunity to provide multiple pathways for women and families on Skid Row to end their homelessness using a Housing First philosophy to get them off the street and into a place that meets their needs,” said Stephen David Simon, Interim Executive Director at LAHSA. “

LAHSA will use $2.6 million of the grant to fund three types of outreach teams to help the unsheltered women and families come inside, including:

• Generalist LAHSA outreach teams that serve Skid Row;
• County Department of Mental Health HOME teams that specialize in conducting outreach to people with severe mental health needs, and;
• County Department of Health Services C3 teams, which specialize in conducting outreach to people with medical and substance use treatment needs.

LAHSA is partnering with the Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) — which specializes in serving women on Skid Row — to spend $3.9 million on non-congregate shelter. Both organizations are partnering with the County of Los Angeles to master lease a motel near Skid Row and provide motel vouchers to participants in the program. In addition, participants with more intensive needs will have access to DHS’ new 40-bed recuperative care facility, The Oasis, and DMH mental health beds.

Once the participants have secured interim housing, they will work with LAHSA and its partners to develop plans for transitioning to permanent housing. LAHSA and its partners are dedicating $8.4 million of the grant to help program participants secure permanent housing placements and provide additional case management and enhanced services based on individual needs, to ensure participants remain stably housed.

“This grant underscores our community leaders’ urgency to bring our unsheltered neighbors inside. And I’m proud to stand next to and thank Mayor Garcetti, Secretary Ramirez, and Assemblymember Santiago for their efforts to make this plan a reality,” continued Simon. “LAHSA looks forward to working with the Homeless Initiative, the County Departments of Mental Health and Health Services, the City of Los Angeles, and the outstanding folks at Downtown Women’s Center.”