A state-funded expansion of Los Angeles County’s Pathway Home program that is focusing on homeless encampments primarily along the County’s two major riverbeds and the I-105 freeway corridor is on track to bring over 500 people indoors and eventual placement into permanent housing, officials announced today.
LA County Department of Health Services substance abuse counselor Lorraine Hundtoft, center, organizes with workers before a Pathway Home operation in South Gate, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (Photo by Michael Owen Baker)
In April 2024, the County received a $51 million California Encampment Resolution Fund (ERF) grant to grow the successful Pathway Home program. As of March 6, the County is reporting that seven coordinated and compassionate operations funded by the grant led to interim housing placements for more than 230 people who had been living in makeshift encampments in or alongside the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers in the cities of Inglewood, Downey, South Gate, Norwalk, Bellflower, Santa Fe Springs, and in unincorporated areas of Willowbrook and West Athens. These operations were conducted in partnership with the offices of LA County Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Janice Hahn.
The seventh and latest ERF operation was completed March 5 in Unincorporated Del Aire. The one-day operation brought 14 people indoors.
“This arm of the Pathway Home program is focused on areas with a history of unsheltered encampments and people in harm’s way, including in areas at risk for flooding. Now, we are providing them with the proven housing-focused support that helps people transition from interim housing to permanent housing,” said Cheri Todoroff, Executive Director of the LA County Homeless Initiative. “These efforts could not have been completed without important state financial support, the cooperation and involvement of our local jurisdictional partners, and our valuable partnerships with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LASHA), service providers, Caltrans, and multiple County departments.”
Pathway Home is an LA County Homeless Initiative-led encampment resolution program that is a critical component of the County’s comprehensive response to the local emergency on homelessness adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2023. By leveraging emergency powers and partnerships with local jurisdictions, Pathway Home is a full-circle solution designed to bring people off the streets, into immediately available interim housing accompanied by a comprehensive suite of supportive services and, ultimately, into permanent homes while returning community spaces such as public streets, waterways and other facilities to their intended use.
LA County workers and registration tables during a Pathway Home operation in Santa Fe Springs, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (Photo by Michael Owen Baker)
Leading up to each operation are weeks of outreach efforts by trained teams to build trust and prepare people experiencing homelessness for a transition to living indoors. Either during this pre-operation period or once in interim housing, teams connect people transitioning out of homelessness with a range of services designed to put them on a path to housing stability. This work can include helping people secure identification, obtain healthcare and disability payments, enroll them in job-training programs and obtain rental subsidies.
The funding also pays for removal of any non-operational recreational vehicles (RVs) and trash and other debris that accumulates at encampments. Additionally, it covers costs associated with securing interim housing sites such as motels, including site security, as well as time-limited rental subsidies and other resources enabling participants to secure permanent housing.
Los Angeles County departments involved in these operations include Sheriff’s, Public Works, Fire, Mental Health, Health Services, Animal Care and Control, and the newly created Emergency Centralized Response Center (ECRC). In addition to LAHSA, outreach teams and service providers include PATH, Helpline Youth Counseling, Whittier First Day and others.
In total, there have been 35 Pathway Home operations that have moved 1,236 people into interim housing, of whom 233 have secured permanent housing. Nearly 700 RVs have also been removed.
Roxana Lobo holds her cat “Gris” in her interim housing in Santa Fe Springs during a Pathway Home operation, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (Photo by Michael Owen Baker)