VTH Supportive Services

Affordable housing and homelessness

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

According to LAHSA, "last year, we saw a 9% rise in homelessness on any given night in LA County to an estimated 75,518 people...a 10% rise in...Los Angeles to an estimated 46,260 people," (LAHSA.org 2024). The data from the most recent 'homeless count,' reflects a steady increase of people experiencing homelessness each year both during and after the pandemic. There are several factors that contribute to homelessness, but due to the stigma associated with it, most people often blame the individual for a lack of effort, substance use, laziness, or not possessing the basic skills needed maintain rent/mortgage payments. The cost of living continues to skyrocket, gentrification continues to displace individuals at an alarming rate, justice involved individuals struggle to be treated with basic decency, systemic racism prevents a large group of people from access to livable wages and housing options, and mental health issues along with substance use only compound these factors.

By working to combat the increasing number of people experiencing homelessness around LAC, we are addressing the needs of the whole person. We understand that often times both substance use and mental health issues are a result of past trauma, and so we engage with every person we serve from a trauma informed approach to care. We will work to address the countless barriers individuals face when seeking housing by being able to provide them with a temporary form of shelter by purchasing tents for them to stay in while we simultaneously work to link them to other housing agencies and continue to seek out and apply for housing finding for the people we serve. Additionally, we will continue to provide onsite mental health, substance use, and street medicine based services to unhoused individuals we serve throughout our mobile outreach efforts in the AV, LA, and Long Beach. We will use this funding as a means to offer support to these individuals as we continue seeking for sustainable and permanent funding and solutions. In closing, our project is centered on addressing the unique needs of each individual we serve through our ability to provide harm reduction supplies, substance use treatment, mental health screenings, services, and referrals, street medicine (Medication Assisted Treatment), intensive case management (for assistance with court and legal issues), job readiness/employment training, and expressive arts programming for creative, therapeutic interventions

LA County will have a few less people experiencing homelessness, a few less individuals struggling with mental health issues, and few more people trained and ready for employment opportunities in harm reduction and social service work. In addition to this potential funding, we have also developed a job readiness/employment training program, intensive case management, expressive arts, mental health services, and access to medication and treatment for substance use services. This funding will give us a little more financial support to provide the people we serve with the most fundamental items they need to survive as we continue working to link them to the requested/appropriate services they need, such as housing. LA County will feel the ripple effect of the work we are doing to help its most vulnerable and underserved populations

We have mobile outreach teams in Long Beach, AV, and LA that provide direct substance use treatment services to people experiencing homelessness. The majority of these individuals do not have any shelter or constantly seek at least a tent to hold their possessions and allow them some sense of relief from sleeping out on the streets. We measure our impact by the continued outreach efforts we provide, how many individuals we are successfully able to get into a treatment program or link up with a housing agency, and ideally obtain permanent, sustainable housing. We have just been certified by LAHSA to begin applying for funding for housing but it is a long process. The problems we have identified stem from people being unhoused but there are several contributing factors that we work to address such as trauma, mental health issues, substance use, lack of employment opproetunies, etc. We measure success in every individual that we are able to assist with forward progress in their lives