The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) today announced the agency was awarded $747,843, the second largest such funding award in the country, to continue its work to end veteran homelessness. The federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provide extraordinary fees for the administrationof the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program.
The HUD-VASH Program is a joint program between the federal departments of HUD and Veterans Affairs, as well as local public housing agencies and VA Medical Centers. HUD-VASH vouchers provide homeless and chronically homeless veterans with permanent supportive housing, which means housing assistance coupled with individually appropriate supportive services needed to retain housing. Eligible homeless veterans are referred to HACLA by case managers from the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center and community-based contractors. Case management and other supportive services are provided through the VA and VA-funded organizations.
The administrative funding award will be used to hire staff to expedite the processing of Request for Tenancy Approvals from landlords; conduct initial inspections and pre-inspections of units for HUD-VASH families, and contract with a third-party vendor (contractor) to provide personalized Housing Search Assistance including providing listings to families, showing units to families, conducting landlord engagement and outreaching to identify available units while explaining the benefits of the program; staff will also be hired to host landlord recruitment fairs in collaboration with the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles, City Council offices, the County Board of Supervisors' office, as well as other partnering agencies and host a "one-stop" event where veterans are connected with VA and Housing Authority staff to determine eligibility, and issued vouchers on the same day so that veterans can start their housing search process immediately.
“The additional funding will ensure that we have dedicated resources to support this agency’s work,” said HACLA President and CEO Douglas Guthrie “Our veterans must receive the support they need as they try to secure a place to call home.”
In June 2016, HACLA was awarded 200 new HUD-VASH vouchers, bringing the City’s total allocation of these units focused on homeless and chronically homeless veterans to 3,909.