The Los Angeles Tenant Centered Collaboratory: Building Trauma-Informed, Practical, and Tenant-Centered Supportive Housing Services

Affordable housing and homelessness

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

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

Supportive housing (SH)—affordable housing paired with person-centered services—is an evidence-based solution for individuals with the highest barriers to housing stability. Resistance around SH is due in large part to the lack of quality services, stemming from insufficient funding and limited staff capacity. SH serves those who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and those who are living in an institution due solely to the lack of suitable options in the community. They may be facing multiple barriers to employment and housing stability, including mental illness, substance use, and/or other disabling or chronic health conditions.
Historically, training initiatives for SH practitioners have employed a paternalistic approach. CSH acknowledges that those who have experienced the challenges of homelessness are best positioned to design and champion the solutions. To that end, Co-LAB uses bi-directional learning, with a focus on tenant leadership to promote quality SH operation.

CSH will contract with three consultants who are SH tenants, Alicia Rhoden, Linda Arnold, and Theodore Patton, to facilitate Co-LAB Cohort 3, evaluate/refine the program, and launch Cohort 4. Co-LAB convenes teams of property managers, service providers, SH tenants, and SH developers/owners for an intensive group learning experience focused on strategies for operating sustainable, trauma-informed, tenant-centered SH.
Co-LAB includes nine sessions delivered over three months. Cohort 3 will introduce a revamped curriculum for 7-10 teams, developed by CSH, Alicia, Linda, and Theodore (the “Co-LAB team”). The training will place greater emphasis on building Tenant Councils and peer programming, with more sessions led by facilitators with lived experience.
For Cohort 3, the Co-LAB team developed a Project Team Action Plan Workbook to help teams translate learnings into goals, build participatory planning skills, and work toward sustained, tenant-centered outcomes. Each Co-LAB team will include a tenant who will engage with their project teams through training, technical assistance (TA), and workplan development. At the start of the grant, Cohort 3 will be in their third month of training.
Over seven months, the Co-LAB team will provide Cohort 3 with TA through monthly meetings to refine their workplans and troubleshoot challenges. From June-July, the Co-Lab team will plan for Cohort 4, incorporating feedback from Cohort 3 participants. Cohort 4 will launch in August 2026.

Co-LAB has helped build community among developers, property managers, service providers, and SH tenants in LA County, strengthening collaboration through honest, open dialogue.
The Co-LAB team will equip Cohort 3 and 4 participants with guidance on issues that are paramount to quality SH operation, including best practices for move-ins and providing trauma-informed care. Co-LAB is now a signature CSH program, and we are committed to developing more cohorts in the future to build and strengthen LA County’s network of SH practitioners.
With Cohort 3, the Co-LAB team is emphasizing building Tenant Councils. Tenant Councils promote tenant leadership, tenant choice and community building. They can also create awareness around the difference between community issues and institutional ones that require a more organized policy approach. If successful, Co-LAB will create a powerful evidence-base for including Tenant Councils in SH projects across LA County.