The Homelessness Prevention Unit, a partnership of Los Angele County Department of Health Services – Housing for Health (DHS HFH) and UCLA’s California Policy Lab, uses a predictive analytics tool to identify people on the brink of becoming homeless based on their use of County services. Once identified, case workers jump in to help those at risk to stay housed.
Case managers are empowered to offer financial support in the form of rental assistance, security deposits for new apartments, funds to repair cars or purchase basic needs for their home – whatever they may need to keep them from falling into homelessness.
“If we can invest a few thousand dollars earlier on in people’s lives rather than letting them fall in and trying to get them back into housing, it’s a much more cost-effective strategy,” said DHS HFH Homelessness Prevention associate director Dana Vanderford.