People Assisting The Homeless 340 North Madison Ave.

Los Angeles, California 90004 Tel (323) 644-2200 www.epath.org

Roadmap to Housing: Six Month Update

Background
In response to Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahls leadership in addressing vehicular homelessness in his Council District 11, PATH (People Assisting The Homeless) contracted with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) at the end of 2010 to provide street outreach, community engagement, case management, parking lot temporary stays, and housing placement services. The program was named Roadmap to Housing and contained three components: On-The-Street Outreach. Teams of experienced case workers responding to community needs and to people living in vehicles. Permanent Housing Placement. The main component of the program is to get people into permanent housing through housing vouchers (rental subsidies), public benefits, or through marketrate housing. Parking Lots as Way-Stations. If needed, parking lots would be used temporarily for people waiting to access permanent housing. The program began in earnest at the beginning of 2011 with street outreach and housing locator teams providing outreach, preparing candidates for permanent housing, and addressing the needs of the community. In addition, PATH worked with Councilmember Rosendahls office to coordinate the placement of parking lots in the community during this period. In a strategic effort, Councilmember Rosendahl secured 50 housing vouchers from the Housing Authority and the Veterans Administration. The key groups assisting PATH in outreach and housing placement are: LAHSA, Veterans Administration, Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Venice Family Clinic, St. Joseph Center, and key leaders within neighborhood groups. The service contract period is 18 months, starting on January 1, 2011 and ending on June 30, 2012. The amount of the contract is $675,000 for 18 months, of which $461,875 is designated for the first year.

Six Months Activities (January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011)

Street Assessment. Before the contract period, PATH street outreach teams were part of survey efforts of the council district in order to assess the need. In November 2010, there were approximately 150 vehicles in the district. By the first quarter of 2011, PATH teams engaged 115 vehicles in the district. We believe that the reduction of vehicles (from 150 to 115) is based on law enforcement efforts in enforcing parking ordinances. It is our assessment that those who left the district were less entrenched in the community, had
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other places to go within the region, and had more capacity to be mobile. (Note: Outside of this assessment, PATH surveyed the Westchester Playa area in September 2010 and found 50 vehicles.) Street Outreach. PATH street outreach teams engaged 115 unduplicated vehicles in the district. (We define one vehicle with one or more people that we are serving as clients.) This engagement included: Surveying client needs (115 clients) Helping clients who wanted to move away from the district (27 clients) Placement in transitional housing programs (4 clients) Referral to PATHs HPRP (Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing) rental assistance program (35 clients) Referral to PATHs employment program (38 clients) Transported to DPSS to receive public benefits (22 clients) Worked with 4 families living in vehicles Housing Placement. PATH street outreach and housing locator teams helped clients through the regulations-intensive Section 8 housing voucher program and the Veterans Administration VASH Voucher program. This includes surveying potential candidates, preparing documents, preparing for intensive interviews, and submitting applications. The total number of clients currently being housed is 40: 22 clients submitted Section 8 Housing Voucher applications to the Housing Authority. o 1 client has moved into a permanent apartment (in Los Angeles). o 1 family (7 family members) moved into a permanent apartment in Venice, after being temporarily sheltered at Upward Bound House. o 1 client will move into his permanent apartment in Venice in late August. o 3 clients have identified apartments and are waiting for Housing Authority approval. o 5 clients have approved housing vouchers and are currently searching for apartments. o 11 clients are still waiting for housing voucher approval. 16 clients are currently in the process of applying for VA VASH Vouchers. 2 clients are in the process of applying for CalVets homes. Community Outreach. PATH outreach and administrative staff visited all of the districts neighborhood councils and park advisory boards. Staff also met with law enforcement, local service agencies, and attended numerous house meetings to talk directly with residents. Developed a Community Response System. PATH created a hotline telephone number and passed out 1,000 post cards advertising the telephone number to people living in vehicles in the district and to residents concerned about vehicular homelessness. PATH responded to 412 telephone requests (as of July 2011) for services or requests from neighbors concerned about a vehicle. VA/Housing Authority Housing Vouchers. With the assistance of Councilmember Rosendahl, PATH had numerous meetings with the Veterans Administration and the Citys Housing Authority to help facilitate rental assistance for people living in vehicles.

Successful Outcomes For the First Six Months

35% of the Vehicular Homelessness Population is housed or is in the process of being permanently housed. The goal of Roadmap to Housing is to provide permanent housing for people living in vehicles. In the first six months, 40 of the 115 persons are housed or are in line to be housed.

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Community Outreach has created a coordinated effort among stakeholders to assist people in housing. In the past six months, local neighbors, landlords, business leaders, law enforcement, homeless agencies, and public agencies (like the VA, Housing Authority, and LAHSA) have worked together to help provide housing for a significant portion of the homeless population. A Response Network is now developed so that people in need and neighbors concerned about homelessness can ask for help. A hotline has now been implemented, and postcards have been distributed to both homeless individuals and community stakeholders.

Next Steps
Concentrate on success. The first six months of this program have emphasized case management on the streets, housing placement, and a community response system. The fact that 35% of the vehicular homeless population will be housed shows that these activities work. PATH recommends that these outreach and housing activities be prioritized. Reallocate parking lot resources to outreach. One of the initial components of Roadmap to Housing was to use parking lots as way-stations. We propose that we put parking lots on hold indefinitely and reallocate the resources that would be used for parking lots (security, porta-potties, staff, support) toward extending outreach and housing placement. Extend the period of services from 1.5 years to 2.5 years. A reallocation of the parking lot resources would allow us to extend the period of this service contract an additional year. The original contract was for January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. By reallocating resources, we could alter the period from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2013, thereby significantly increasing the impact in the district. Final Conclusion: We believe we can meet an annual housing placements goal of 30-40 clients. In a span of two and a half years, this would dramatically decrease the number of people living in vehicles in District 11. We also believe this will become a model for the rest of the city and county, since vehicular homelessness is a region-wide issue.

Who is PATH?
PATHs mission is to end homelessness for individuals, families and communities. PATH started in 1984, in West Los Angeles when a group of faith, business, and community leaders decided to address homelessness in the neighborhood. The agency is a private, nonprofit organization with funding from both public (federal, state, county, and local) and private (foundations, corporations, faith-based groups, and individuals) groups. PATH implements homeless prevention (rental assistance) programs, strategic outreach, community planning, rapid re-housing, and permanent supportive housing development in more than two dozen cities in the region.

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