Corporation for Supportive Housing

The Los Angeles Emerging Developer Learning Lab (LA-EDLL) encourages the participation of housing organizations and up-and-coming developers in the housing/homeless sector. CSH will provide LA-EDLL participants with grants and access to low-cost loans, needs assessment consulting, and technical assistance to build their capacity, infrastructure, and sustainability. Through virtual co-learning and peer support sessions, participants will form a network of development partners with a shared goal to expand supportive housing in LA County.

CSH will develop and test the LA County Certificate in Homeless Services, an interdisciplinary certification program, for 30 students at two accredited universities in LA (a bachelor’s and master’s program). Our goal is to address the homeless service sector’s workforce shortage by developing a pipeline of competent, compassionate, committed professionals ready to serve. The program will leverage recommendations from CSH’s Homelessness Social Work Education (HSWE) pilot, which provides MSW students with training, internships and evaluation.

Through a process led by tenants with lived experience of homelessness, the Housing First Sharing Exchange (HFSE) will create a framework for shared accountability, move the field towards Housing First fidelity, and strengthen the service delivery system. This project will position the field to deliver housing and services that are directly responsive to tenants’ needs to improve quality of life for the individuals and families with the highest barriers to housing stability in LA County.

CSH’s Los Angeles Tenant Centered Collaboratory (the “Co-LAB”) is our training vehicle to build the industry’s capacity to create and operate high-quality supportive housing (SH) in LA County. Co-LAB convenes developers, property managers, service providers, and individuals with lived experience for group learning, positioning the field to operate sustainable, trauma-informed, tenant-centered SH. CSH will contract with three consultants who are SH tenants to facilitate Co-LAB Cohort 3, evaluate and refine the program, and launch Cohort 4.

More than 100 Advocates with lived experience of homelessness have graduated from CSH’s LA Speak Up! program. Through monthly workshops, 1:1 coaching, public speaking, and advocacy, Advocates learn to tell stories of strength. This fall, we are launching a refined program, developed with our partners with lived experience, focused on healing and leadership. Our goal is to help Advocates build the skills, confidence, and connections to achieve their goals in their advocacy and their own lives.