New Shelter for Homeless Families

Housing and Homelessness

San Fernando Valley

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, (LAHSA) an estimated 69,144 people experienced homelessness in Los Angeles County during 2022. 32% of this population are women and 16% are in family units, usually headed by a single mother. That's over 11,000 homeless moms and kids! For these mothers facing the trauma of homelessness, it can be overwhelming. It's nearly impossible to think about finding a job or building a new life when you don't know where your next meal is coming from or where you will spend the night. For the women and children that will be welcomed at Hope the Mission shelters, they will find help, hope, immediate care and long-term rehabilitation services so they will never be homeless again.

Working with the California State Housing Community Development Department and the County of Los Angeles, we are opening three new shelters to assist women and children who are homeless. In addition to the new shelter in Woodland Hills previously mentioned which we are calling The Woodlands, we are converting the old 20,245 sq. ft., three story Lyfe Inn Hotel near McArthur Park into a 43 unit, 172-bed facility for families. We call this location The Alvarado. We also acquired the Sands Motel and the Tropic Motel in the city of Lancaster. We are combining both sites into one large, single complex for families. The new 14,733 sq. ft. site will consist of 38 units with 152 beds. This site will be called The Sierras. All four hotels will collectively add 181 new living units and 724 new beds for homeless families. Each location will feature a full complement of safety net services but also long-term rehabilitation programs. This location will also include a Day Care Center for homeless mothers and a Community Center. We are seeking your support for the Woodland Hills shelter, our largest facility that can serve up to 400 people. L.A. County is generously providing a daily stipend of $110 per unit but it falls short of our actual costs. Thanks to strong community support of nearly $200,000, we are closing this funding gap. We would like to request a grant of $75,000 to help complete the funding for this remarkable outreach.

Hope the Mission will soon be operating 18 homeless shelters throughout Los Angeles County. This will represent over 2,200 beds every night and includes well over two million meals for this year. Our primary focus in 2023 has been creating much needed housing for families experiencing homelessness, almost all of which are led by single moms. We will meet their immediate needs of food, shelter, hygiene, safety, and access to healthcare. But they can also find a temporary home with committed and loving staff who will help them get the services they need to help build a new life of independence and purpose for them and their children. Our goal is to help break the cycle of poverty and dependency permanently. Considering the turnover three or times each year, this family outreach has the potential impact to move 10-20% of the current number of homeless women and children in Los Angeles County from off the street and into long-term rehabilitation and recovery care.

To measure our impact, Hope the Mission utilizes the Homeless Management Information System and internal excel spreadsheets to track programmatic data. Our Director of Access and Engagement, Director of Residential Programs, and Director of Crises and Interim Housing track the metrics from each individual department. Our program's leadership team submit monthly data reports to the Director of Strategic Initiatives who tracks and analyzes agency-wide programmatic data to assess for program strengths, areas of improvement, and compliance with our funding source requirements.