LAHSA & Partners Secure $73 Million in Federal Funding to Aid LA's Homeless;
City & County leaders applaud largest federal grant in LA history

This month, LAHSA and our partners secured the largest federal funding award in our history. On February 20, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released homeless grant awards for the 2008-09 fiscal year, awarding the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (LACoC) nearly $69 million. (The LACoC includes the City and most of the County of Los Angeles, with the exception of Pasadena, Glendale and Long Beach; these cities each submit separate applications and receive separate awards.)

As lead agency of the LACoC, LAHSA coordinates our region's application for the SuperNOFA Competitive Award program. Through this competitive grant process, HUD awards billions of dollars in funding to homeless Continuums of Care in cities and regions nationwide.

In addition to the SuperNOFA funding, HUD simultaneously announced awards for their Emergency Shelter Grant Program (ESG), which funds basic shelter and essential supportive services for homeless people. The City & County of Los Angeles were awarded over $4.4 million in ESG grants, bringing the total amount of next year's federal homeless funding awarded to the LACoC to over $73.4 million. Taken together, this year’s awards represent an increase of more than $1.3 million over last year’s funding of $72 million.

“We are thrilled to receive this crucial funding for our programs providing housing and services to our most vulnerable citizens,” said LAHSA Executive Director Rebecca Isaacs. “Our partner agencies provide a continuum of programs including emergency shelters, safe havens, transitional and permanent housing, along with supportive services that address issues intertwined with homelessness, such as domestic violence, mental illness, substance abuse, and job skills. Together we create and sustain solutions that are ending homelessness as we know it.”

The majority of projects receiving LACoC grants are one-year renewals of existing programs, all of which must re-apply each year to qualify for continued funding. This year’s award provides funding for more than 200 homeless programs, including:
• $37.3 million in funding for the Supportive Housing Program, providing supportive services, and transitional and permanent housing for homeless individuals and families;
• $31.6 million in Shelter Plus Care housing vouchers, providing housing for homeless individuals and families, including $21.2 million to the Housing Authority, City of Los Angeles, $6.4 million to the Housing Authority, County of Los Angeles, $3.2 million to the Housing Authority, City of Santa Monica and $717 thousand to the Housing Authority, City of Pomona.

“Los Angeles County’s work to end homelessness in partnership with the City of Los Angeles and all of the 88 cities and dozens of unincorporated communities that encompass the County continues to be acknowledged at the federal level,” said Supervisor Don Knabe, Chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. “We commend LAHSA and its partner agencies for successfully articulating our region’s unique needs in this competitive process.”

Included in the 2009 award is over $12 million to support the addition of 191 new units for homeless individuals and families. New local projects funded include:
• Housing Authority of the City Los Angeles: 99 units for chronically homeless and persistently mentally ill individuals at seven sites located across the city, representing 6 Congressional Districts.
• Hollywood Community Housing Corporation: 15 units to support homeless individuals and their families who are living with HIV/AIDS.
• Housing Authority of the City of Santa Monica: 25 units for homeless and chronically homeless individuals in the City of Santa Monica.
• Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health: 25 units for homeless individuals and families with mental illness.
• St. Joseph Center: 20 units for chronically homeless individuals in Venice.
• Special Services for Groups: This project will provide approximately 7 one-bedroom units for homeless individuals with severe and chronic mental illnesses.

“Our newly funded programs represent an important next step toward meeting the needs of our homeless populations,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. “Combining shelter with mental health and other services is a proven way to help people transition to stable housing. HUD is particularly focused on reaching out to homeless families and chronically homeless individuals, and these new programs mirror these priorities.”

The Emergency Shelter Grant awards to the City and County of Los Angeles were for $3.17 million and $1.31 million, respectively. ESG funds help to support critical services throughout the City & County, including LAHSA’s homeless outreach team, access centers, and a portion of 1065 emergency shelter beds. ESG funds also assist in supporting over 1700 beds in LAHSA’s Winter Shelter Program, which augments emergency shelter capacity during the cold winter months.

On a national basis, HUD’s Continuum of Care and ESG programs will provide critically needed funding to over 6,000 local programs in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This year, HUD is providing a total of $1.6 billion in CoC funding through grants and will provide assistance to the hundreds of thousands of persons and families living without a home of their own.