LA’s Life-Saving Winter Shelter Program Returns For 2024-25

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Christopher Yee, cyee@lahsa.org 

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA)’s Winter Shelter Program for the 2024-25 season opened Friday, November 1. The life-saving program, which starts by offering 217 beds across five sites in Los Angeles County, will run through March 31, 2025.   

The County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles provide funding to LAHSA to administer the Winter Shelter Program. LAHSA contracts with non-profit service providers to operate the temporary emergency shelters. The Winter Shelter Program offers two components to help people experiencing unsheltered homelessness escape winter weather: the Winter Shelter Program and the Emergency Response Program, which was formerly known as the Augmented Winter Shelter Program. 

“Last year, Los Angeles experienced another wet winter, and the Winter Shelter Program gave people a safe place to stay during the storms," LAHSA CEO Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum said. "That's really what this program is all about: saving lives. Every year, hundreds of lives are saved because our partners come together to offer these vital beds." 

The Winter Shelter Program will operate from Nov. 1, 2024, to Mar. 31, 2025, with shelters open 12-24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each Winter Shelter site will provide three meals a day and welcome pets and emotional support animals. 

This year, 217 beds are available at five congregate sites across LA County, with the possibility of more shelters coming online during the season. The list of Winter Shelter Sites at the end of this release provides more information on this season’s locations. The Winter Shelter webpage is updated throughout the season with the current list of active sites.  

During severe cold or rain, the City or County of Los Angeles may activate the Emergency Response Program to expand capacity and bring people indoors. Visit the Emergency Response webpage for activation criteria, activation periods, and shelter locations.  

Launched in spring 2024, LAHSA’s Emergency Response Program was built on the success of the Augmented Winter Shelter Program. The program is designed to deploy resources to bring people inside as quickly as possible in the event of local emergencies and conditions that pose a threat to people who live outside, including excessive heat, cold and rain, fires, landslides, mudslides, and more. In addition, the Emergency Response Program provides LAHSA with the flexibility to bring people inside during severe weather in communities without a Winter Shetler Program site. 

In addition to the 217 beds offered as part of the Winter Shelter Program, the Emergency Response Program offers 208 motel vouchers during each program activation to help people during severe weather. 

Last season’s Winter Shelter Program served 849 people, 237 of whom remained inside after the winter shelter season concluded. An additional 1,563 people came inside during severe storms thanks to the Augmented Winter Shelter Program, 132 of whom accepted referrals to interim housing following these events. In addition to the 388 available Winter Shelter Program beds last year, LAHSA mobilized 620 cots across 13 pop-up shelters, and 625 hotel/motel vouchers were available during severe weather events.  

Anyone needing a Winter Shelter bed should go directly to the site, ask a homeless service provider to connect them, engage an outreach worker, or call 211 to receive a referral to the site closest to them. For more information, please visit lasha.org/winter-shelter or call 211.