Housing the Homeless on Skid Row

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas provided the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) with $500,000 to get as many as 200 homeless persons off Skid Row and into housing this winter.

The discretionary funding was initially intended for DHS recuperative care programs but then shifted to rapid rehousing programs because of the urgent need to provide shelter during the cold months.

The money will now support a County/City/Community project called C3, which is a public and private initiative that deploys four mental and physical health clinical teams to Skid Row. They conduct outreach and connect the homeless to interim residential options and permanent housing with services.

C3 will use the money for interim housing slots critical to making sure that homeless individuals have safe temporary housing while permanent supportive housing options are being identified.

DHS anticipates the $500,000 will help get about 200 people off the streets. It will tap its Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool, which receives $4 million in funding from the County each year, to help pay for their permanent supportive housing.

Another source of money for permanent supportive housing is a $10-million rapid rehousing program that the County is launching in response to the coming El Nino, pursuant to a Board motion authored by Supervisor Ridley-Thomas.

DHS will also utilize permanent housing available through the County’s Coordinated Entry System, which matches homeless individuals to appropriate services and housing.