Helping Marginalized Communities Rise Above Their Circumstances

Housing and Homelessness

South LA

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

Homelessness is a pervasive issue in L.A.. According to the 2022 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, there were 69,144 homeless people, with 70.2% unsheltered. The number of homeless individuals increased by 4% from 2020. In South Los Angeles, where Measure of Hearts Foundation (MOHF) is located, the statistics are even more concerning: in 2022, there was a 12% increase in homelessness. 61% were unsheltered. Every day, we receive calls from families in dire need of rental assistance. Recently, MOHF received a call from a mother with two children who was living in her car because she gets less than $1,000 through CalWORKS. Rental assistance for this family would help bring stability and safety to their lives. Other families call with similar stories, requesting rental assistance when they realize that they are unable to make rent for the month. The systems we operate in are broken, leaving a serious imbalance where children and families are left without their basic needs being met.

Measure of Hearts Foundation addresses homelessness through services including: Rental Assistance Program: This new program is responsive to the needs of our community, namely low income-earning community members who don't meet eligibility requirements for housing assistance, but are still unable to pay LA's high rent prices. As we measure success, we will see families more stabilized and fewer instances of families living in their cars or being unable to make rent. Success to us means keeping families and children in safe, stable housing. Case Management Program: Our case managers provide assistance to our clients in securing and tracking eligible county and state benefits, accompaniment to medical appointments, accompaniment to probation appearances, when appropriate, and linkage to resources for reentry, financial education, and behavioral health. Employment/Job Training Program: Provides linkage to employers and job training programs, assistance with career exploration, resume preparation, and mock interviews. Also provides funds for clients to receive employment certifications such as guard cards, forklift certification, CPR certification, and food handlers' certification. Outreach Program: This program goes into the community to take our services to the people and increase our visibility in the community, so that people in need of housing can encounter MOHF on their own territory before deciding whether to take advantage of our resources.

Our vision is to see marginalized communities rise above their circumstance, flourish in education, career and housing, and thus lessen the use of oppressive government systems. In service to that vision, we are building capacity: increasing the number of people we serve. One of the most direct ways we can accomplish this is through rental assistance, an underfunded program where the need is greatest in our community. Grant funds will support our rental assistance program and employment certification program helping children and families obtain and maintain safe, stable housing while working towards getting employed and staying employed.

We have upgraded our evaluation software to Apricot Core by Bonterra, a case management software that assists us in gathering a wealth of data about our clients, including demographics, progress, and outcomes. Before this upgrade, we kept track of basic demographics and some outcomes data, which showed our programs were producing desired outcomes. We are excited to be in the process of shifting to this upgraded case management software. This increases our capacity to produce detailed reports (for internal and external use) to measure program efficacy through client outcomes and improve programming accordingly. Our Rental Assistance Program in particular is an early-stage program responding to immediate community need. For this program, we expect to see families getting off the street and into safe transitional housing; parents using our employment services to upskill and earn more money to support their families; and families moving on to stable, permanent housing.