Rebecca Isaacs, Esq., is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). LAHSA is a joint powers authority of the City and County of Los Angeles, created in 1993 to address the problems of homelessness on a regional basis. LAHSA plans, funds and administers programs throughout Los Angeles County that assist homeless individuals and families in their transition to permanent housing. She oversees an organizational budget of $60 million and 70 full-time staff, incorporating a broad range of duties including outreach, contracts and grants management, fiscal monitoring, evaluation, and policy and planning. LAHSA funds agencies that address many underserved homeless populations including battered women and their children, veterans, youth transitioning from foster care, and individuals with mental health needs.

Ms. Isaacs was previously Executive Director of the Inner City Law Center, a legal services and housing advocacy agency serving homeless people and low-income clients in Los Angeles, with an emphasis on Skid Row. She also served as Vice Chair of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission. She is a former Legislative Aide and Communications Director for U.S. Representative, Lucille Roybal-Allard and a Policy Director for People for the American Way in Washington, D.C., where she served on the Executive Committee for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a preeminent civil rights umbrella organization in the nation's capital.

Her life's calling and work has been as an advocate for the disenfranchised--working since the 1980's on behalf of battered women, women in prison, gays and lesbians, youth, and people with HIV/AIDS. Ms. Isaacs has combined a passion for civil rights and justice with managerial expertise and leadership skills. She served as Policy and Public Affairs Director and then Interim Executive Director for the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center from 2000-2003.

She has been quoted extensively in media and press stories including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the LA Times, and CNN, among many others.

She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She is a member of the California Bar.