Community-Led Crisis and Incident Response

Affordable housing and homelessness

West LA

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

According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, there are more than 40,000 people experiencing homelessness in the City of Los Angeles and more than 70,000 across the County. While only 1.1 percent of the overall US population, Los Angeles is home to 7.1 percent of the nation’s unhoused. Black people make up one third of LA’s unhoused population; the odds of a Black person in LA being unhoused are six times greater than that of a non-Hispanic white person.
Historically, police officers have been the primary first responders for 911 calls involving people experiencing homelessness. Many of these interactions have been punitive and, in some cases, deadly. According to LAPD statistics, the number and proportion of police use-of-force against unhoused Angelenos increased between 2017-2019. From 2016-2022, 38 percent of all LAPD arrests and citations combined were of unhoused people, including nearly 100 percent of all citations and over 42 percent of all misdemeanor arrests

Heluna Health’s Crisis and Incident Response through Community-led Engagement (CIRCLE) program is a 24/7 unarmed response program that deploys teams of mental health professionals and individuals with lived experience to address non-violent LAPD calls involving people experiencing homelessness (PEH). These calls are often related to loitering, well-being checks, noise disturbances, substance abuse issues, and indecent exposure.
The City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Community Safety launched the CIRCLE program in 2022 to reduce the number of interactions between non-violent unhoused individuals and police and empower mental health professionals and individuals with lived experience to provide specialized support to PEH experiencing crisis. The program began in Hollywood and Venice and has since expanded to additional communities in the City of LA. Heluna Health is the dedicated CIRCLE provider for the Pacific region.
Using 24/7 operations, we deploy two-person teams consisting of an Outreach Supervisor and Outreach Advocate. Teams are split into Response Teams (RT) and Support Teams (ST). RTs refer dangerous, medically urgent, and high-acuity mental health incidents to appropriate agencies. For lower-risk clients, STs offer case management, connection to services and housing, transportation to housing solutions or other resources, and system navigation support. Currently, Heluna Health has a total of 7 Outreach Supervisors and 7 Outreach Advocates and 1 Program Manager.

Los Angeles County and its communities will see improved care and treatment for people experiencing homelessness, reduced police use-of-force incidents, a more robust mental health workforce, and more compassionate crisis response on our streets and within our communities.
CIRCLE leverages the expertise of mental health professionals and individuals who are already equipped with the skills and experience to support the target population. This program allows for an alternative response to public safety, frees up LAPD officers to focus on fighting crime, and limits unnecessary interactions between non-violent unhoused individuals and police officers. CIRCLE provides immediate support to those in need while helping to rebuild community trust.
CIRCLE’s success will allow Los Angeles County to be a model nationwide for a community-based approach that does not place police officers at the center of crisis response involving unhoused individuals.