Capacity Building

Through on-going technical assistance, Shelter Partnership works to build the capacity and effectiveness of individual agencies providing short-term and transitional housing for homeless people. We also work with agencies to create permanent affordable housing with supportive services for homeless people. Toward improving capacity of an agency, we have offered training and instruction in such areas as forming a nonprofit entity, working with a Board of Directors, mission and program development, and building an effective staff to carry out your mission. Toward supporting the operations of an agency, we assist in the development of funding plans, identify funding sources for programs, and provide guidance in completing specific funding applications.

Through this one-on-one work with homeless housing agencies, Shelter Partnership is helping to build the capacity of Los Angeles County's homeless services and housing system. At the same time, Shelter Partnership provides technical assistance to government agencies and funders in order to give guidance on where there are needs across the community and how to design and support effective programs for homeless persons. Shelter Partnership's work has often led to the creation of new programs.

The following is an overview of some of the technical assistance Shelter Partnership provides:

Funding Alerts: As soon as a source of funding is announced with a call for project proposals and applications, Shelter Partnership issues an alert which describes the available funding and how to apply. Shelter Partnership tracks public and private funding sources on a daily basis in order to keep the community informed and on the competitive edge for national, state and local funding sources.

Assistance in completing applications: Shelter Partnership offers workshops on how to complete applications for funding, including specific applications for public sources as well as preparing proposals to private foundations or corporations. We also provide hours of one-on-one assistance in reviewing draft applications and making suggestions to strengthen them. Shelter Partnership has followed and worked with the funding sources for over 15 years and can give effective guidance in completing successful applications.

Funding through the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA): Shelter Partnership has provided critical technical assistance to LAHSA in the preparation of a collaborative application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Funding from the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) Program: Shelter Partnership participates with the City and County of Los Angeles in designing how federal funding will be used each year in meeting the needs of persons living with HIV/AIDS.

Funding through the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Support for Homeless Re-Entry (SHORE): Shelter Partnership was instrumental in the development, organization, and approval of this new program, SHORE. This program makes public transportation available for those homeless persons who are participating in a transition to stability through case management and supportive services. In 1994, the program was awarded $615,000 as a 14-month demonstration program through which 30 participating agencies received bus tokens for their clients. Most recently, Shelter Partnership successfully worked for renewal of the program tnat in now funded at $350,000 annually with 24 participating agencies.

Current Projects

Los Angeles Homeless Older Adults: 

This project will address the needs of homeless older adults in Los Angeles County.  One quarter of the 250,000 homeless annually in Los Angeles County are over age 50.  Not surprisingly, as the “Baby Boomer” generation ages, from 1990 to 2030 persons aged 60 and above will increase 150%, and the incidence of poverty among this population will increase.  Homeless older adults face unique physical and mental health challenges.  Poverty, which contributes to incidents of homelessness, is increasing among homeless older adults, particularly among women of color living alone. Homeless older adults’ income sources are extremely low (often just County General Relief or SSI), which greatly inhibit their ability to secure market-rate housing.

Homeless older adults are unique because they are more likely than their younger counterparts to have multiple medical problems and chronic illnesses that have gone untreated for years, and illnesses common to aging such as diabetes, cardiac disease, circulatory problems, and hypertension.  Homelessness compromises health, and can lead to exposure, hypothermia, insufficient sleep, and poor nutrition.  It is also a predictor of mental illness, such as depression and dementia.  Homelessness contributes to memory problems, cognitive impairments, poor judgment and poor comprehension, which causes difficulties delivering services.  Shelters are often ill-equipped to serve homeless older adults because they feel unsafe, have a hard time standing in line, navigating stairs, and using public showers and bathrooms.  They have difficulties accessing services because of their frailty, poor mobility and loss of hearing and sight.

This project will gather information about homeless older adults in Los Angeles County and assess their need for permanent housing with special supportive services, identify barriers to the production of such housing, determine the means to coordinate essential services, and produce an action plan that will guide the production of this housing.  We will conduct a literature, data, and best practices review; interview homeless housing and service providers, government stakeholders, and homeless older adults themselves; and disseminate the action plan’s practical solutions for immediate implementation.

The California Community Foundation and the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) have generously funded this project.

Current Collaborative Efforts

Community Model: We recently assisted Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC) develop a Safe Haven at 26th Street and Cloverfield for mentally ill adults, many with other significant health conditions. We assisted OPCC in the capital and operation campaigns as well as siting issues. The program is now operational.  Please visit the Community Model web site for more information.

LA's HOPE: Los Angeles Homeless Opportunity Providing Employment

The City of Los Angeles Community Development Department, representing the Workforce Investment Board, and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles have recently received a $3.6 million federal grant for an initiative to provide housing and employment to the chronically homeless of Los Angeles County. As one of only five jurisdictions awarded funding in the nation, this new initiative is addressing the President's commitment to end chronic homelessness in 10 years and is funded jointly by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Labor.

LA's HOPE also involves the collaboration of the following seven public and private agencies: Goodwill Southern California, Inc. (Goodwill), Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, Portals House, Inc., San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center, Inc. (SFVCMHC), Shelter Partnership, Inc., and South Central Health and Rehabilitation Program (SCHARP).

Outreach workers from Portals, SCHARP and SFVCMHC will identify LA's HOPE's seventy-six homeless participants at three of the region's continuously operated overnight emergency shelters. These participants will be referred to the partners' existing wrap-around "AB 2034" programs to stabilize their mental health issues and address other issues that they are experiencing (e.g. substance abuse, physical health issues, etc.). The AB 2034 program is an innovative, comprehensive State-funded initiative recently established to provide wrap-around services (including housing and employment) to mentally ill homeless individuals. Housing specialists from these agencies will help the participant's immediately secure permanent, affordable housing with supportive services in the private market using their federal housing certificate to pay the rent. Additionally, upon enrollment, LA's HOPE participants will receive mental health services, including medication support, 24/7 crisis counseling, case management, and move-in assistance.

Once the participant is living in their own apartment and has exhibited evidence of their readiness to work, Goodwill's staff, in partnership with their case-manager, will begin implementing their customized job plan. With their recognized expertise in providing employment support to individuals with disabilities, Goodwill will assess the participant's job readiness, work skills, work history, and areas of interest in relation to employment. The Goodwill job developer will begin to work with employers to secure meaningful employment commitments for LA's HOPE participants once they are able to seek competitive employment. Funding is available in the grant to provide both wages for paid supported employment as well as vocational training for the participants.

All services will be provided with sensitivity to the client's former homeless condition and current mental health and substance abuse issues and in a cultural appropriate manner with the goal of providing continuous improvement in their housing and employment status.

Connections: Collaborative Project to Provide Permanent Housing for Homeless and Unstably Housed Persons Living with HIV/AIDS.

As one of only three jurisdictions in the nation, the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) has received $1.2 million in Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) competitive grant funding to implement Connections in the County of Los Angeles, which will result in permanent housing subsidies for 105 homeless or persons at imminent threat of homelessness. The project is a collaborative between the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the United States Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and has been designated as a HOPWA Special Project of National Significance.

As the lead applicant, the LAHD is partnering with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA), the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (HACoLA), the County of Los Angeles Office of AIDS Programs and Policy (OAPP), the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), and Shelter Partnership, Inc. Together with representatives from HUD and the CDC, these partners comprise the Connections Steering Committee, responsible for coordinating the planning and ongoing participation of the collaborators.

Connections participants will be identified through an extensive outreach program. Participants must be at least 18 years of age, meet HOPWA eligibility requirements, be homeless or at-risk of homelessness (as defined by HUD), speak English or Spanish, and sign a consent form that will enable the OAPP contractors to release contact, demographic and other information to other Connections collaborators and directly to the CDC. Participants will be screened and selected through an open enrollment process administered by HACLA, and divided into two groups-intervention and comparison-through a random process administered under the guidance of the CDC. All participants will receive assistance with finding housing, referrals for medical care, and other service needs, and more than 100 participants will be selected to receive a Section 8 housing voucher. Outreach will be provided throughout Los Angeles County, however targeted outreach will occur in Metro and South Los Angeles due to the high incidence of homelessness and HIV in these areas.

Connections represents an innovative opportunity to study the impact of providing housing for homeless or unstably housed persons on the transmission of HIV and the health of persons living with HIV, and a unique opportunity for collaboration between the City and County.