Permanent Homes and Ongoing Support for Angelenos Experiencing Homelessness

The mission of LA Family Housing can be summed up in one sentence, according to President and CEO Stephanie Klasky-Gamer: “Our goal is to permanently end homelessness in people’s lives.” 

Since the 1980s, the organization has lifted economically disadvantaged people out of poverty and homelessness. Doing so has entailed everything from paying off back rent and negotiating with landlords to lease their units to LA Family Housing program participants. The organization now owns and operates 27 properties and is in the process of developing 13 more. Those additions will expand LA Family Housing’s number of apartment units by nearly 700. Although the organization also develops and operates interim housing, making permanent homes available to Angelenos in need remains the priority.

“LA Family Housing has recognized that there are multiple strategies to end homelessness in people’s lives and multiple paths out of homelessness, but all paths need to lead to a home, a permanent residence that people can afford,” Klasky-Gamer says. “So, we are both a real estate development company and one of the county’s largest homeless service providers.”

But the nonprofit’s work does not begin and end with permanent housing. LA Family Housing includes street outreach, case management, interim housing, and housing stabilization teams who continue supporting their participants after they move into their homes. 

“We don’t just measure success by how many people moved into a permanent home,” Klasky-Gamer says “We look at how long they retain that home after at least two years, and we have a 94% success rate of people staying in their permanent home once they’ve moved in.”

In the wake of the pandemic, Los Angeles’ housing crisis has intensified, leading LA Family Housing to nearly double its budget and staff — from 250 to 475. After the lockdown began, the nonprofit worked with the city to move 700 people experiencing homelessness into hotels and motels in just three weeks as part of the Project Roomkey program. LA Family Housing also educated individuals living outdoors about how to avoid spreading or contracting COVID-19 and distributed personal protection equipment to that end. At one point, the organization also partnered with private corporations and restaurants to deliver 1,300 meals daily to Angelenos experiencing food insecurity.

Before and during the pandemic, LA Family Housing has made a point to serve a wide range of people — military veterans, single mothers, seniors, and young adults who have aged out of the foster care system.

“When we are working with a family, or when we are working with individuals, we are the last stop for them,” Klasky-Gamer says. “We work with them no matter where they are in their journey toward permanent housing.”