HOMELESS INITIATIVE
We know that permanent housing and support services combined with measures to prevent people from losing their homes is the path to ending homelessness. The challenge is that LA County has a dearth of affordable housing, compounded by decades of disinvestment in our social safety net and deeply entrenched racial inequities.
Mainstream government systems like LA County provide the largest safety net for vulnerable and low-income people. The “homeless response system,” a complex matrix of government and nonprofit services, is a system of last resort that attempts to divert or rehouse people out of homelessness and into permanent housing. However, many people are falling through the cracks, stuck in interim housing or on the streets for extended periods of time.
LA County is responsible for many tools that can solve homelessness, but we can only achieve success by harnessing the collective expertise of our partners.
That’s why the Homeless Initiative has been tasked by the Board of Supervisors to lead unprecedented collaboration between service providers, people with lived experience, cities, County departments, and elected officials to spark change in our communities.
Leaders across LA County have demonstrated a shared vision and commitment to ending homelessness across the region, and unprecedented collaboration in recent years is yielding results.
The Homeless Initiative aligns everyone’s tools and resources to create bold, unique solutions for each community. It serves as a conductor, guiding and supporting partners to play from the same songbook. Each partner, whether a service provider or a city, plays a unique role in preventing and ending homelessness.
The Homeless Initiative nurtures relationships with and between partners so we can work powerfully as a whole that’s greater than the sum of our parts.
Funding for the Homeless Initiative comes from a variety of federal, state and local sources, including Measure H, a quarter-cent sales tax over 10 years that nearly 70 percent of County voters approved in March 2017, creating the first revenue stream dedicated to addressing and preventing homelessness.
A Citizen’s Oversight Advisory Board as well as quarterly reports, annual audits and performance evaluations ensure transparency and accountability.
