Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Visit Star Apartments

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On February 24th, nonprofit leaders from around the country visited the Star Apartments as part of the Bank of America Neighborhood Builders program. They met with Trust staff and partners to learn about the innovative design and cross-sector partnerships that make permanent supportive housing projects like the Star Apartments possible. Attendees toured resident units, common areas, and wellness facilities, and visited the Los Angeles County Department of Health Service‘s ground floor offices and medical clinic. There attendees met with Marc Trotz, Director of Housing for Health, who explained how the Department of Health Services is working with Skid Row Housing Trust to link homeless patients to housing.

Following the tour, Bank of America hosted a panel in the Star’s garden to explore how partnerships between public institutions and private nonprofits can better address homelessness. Panelists Elise Buik, United Way President and CEO, Mark Loranger, Chrysalis President and CEO, Jan Perry, Los Angeles Economic and Workforce Development General Manager, and Mike Alvidrez, Skid Row Housing Trust CEO, discussed how leaders throughout the community can collaborate to develop effective solutions to the most pressing issues.

Bank of America Neighborhood Builders program strengthens nonprofit leaders and supports nonprofit organizations through grants and leadership development, creating a national network of peers focused on permanently addressing social issues. It is the nation’s largest philanthropic investment in nonprofit leadership development.

California State Senate supports ‘No Place Like Home’ initiative

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Like the much-needed rain that has reached California, the effort to help the homeless has even more significance to it as the impact of El Niño storms has displaced the thousands of homeless living in makeshift camps along the Los Angeles River.

On Jan 4, members of the California State Senate held a press conference to announce the “No Place Like Home” initiative.

 The bipartisan coalition wanted to alert the press that Monday to this first-of-it’s-kind comprehensive collaboration designed to help local communities meet the critical needs of the homeless in California. More than 40 speakers and representatives from State and local agencies voiced their concerns for the homeless at the The Star Apartments on East 6th Street in Los Angeles, an area known as Skid Row.

Mike Alvidrez, president of the Skid Row Housing Trust which owns and manages The Star Apartments, began the press conference by saying “permanent support of housing works and it saves money.” He mentioned that the SRH Trust has been working with the homeless for over 25 years and in its management of The Star Apartments and other properties, their approach has been homelessness is a reversible circumstance and that everyone in a community has a role to play in ending homelessness.

Video: Senate leader, Steinberg propose $2 billion homeless plan

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Sacramento Bee: In an opening to this year’s budget negotiations at the Capitol, Senate Democrats on Monday proposed a $2 billion bond to build homes for homeless people with mental illnesses. The measure would be funded by Proposition 63, the existing, 1 percent income tax on Californians earning $1 million or more per year to pay for mental health services. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León said at a news conference in Los Angeles that the money could fund construction of at least 10,000 housing units statewide.

 

Skid Row Housing Trust: Housing is Healthcare

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LA Downtowner: For the last 25 years, the Skid Row Housing Trust (SRHT) has been committed to converting SRO’s (single resident occupancy) and otherwise dilapidated hotels into high quality apartments for Downtown’s homeless. Their ‘Housing First’ philosophy sees providing housing as the first step in ending the homelessness cycle.

Grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for Long-Term Support of Residents

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We are proud to announce that the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation awarded the Trust a two-year, $400,000 grant to improve our wrap-around supportive services, allowing us to better address the long-term needs of residents who struggle with chronic health conditions. While the security of a permanent home is the first step towards safety, stability and wellness, ongoing access to essential health services is critical to a better quality of life that will last. For instance, the Trust has been developing “aging in place” strategies to help the increasing number of older residents continue living independently for as long as possible, including targeted workshops on depression, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and home safety. With the support of the Hilton Foundation, we will continue working to identify and fill gaps in our outreach, housing, and health services so that we can continue breaking the cycle of homelessness and hospitalization.

The Hilton Foundation was created in 1944 by international business pioneer Conrad N. Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels and left his fortune to help the world’s disadvantaged and vulnerable people. The Foundation currently conducts strategic initiatives in six priority areas: providing safe water, ending chronic homelessness, preventing substance use, helping children affected by HIV and AIDS, supporting transition-age youth in foster care, and extending Conrad Hilton’s support for the work of Catholic Sisters. In addition, following selection by an independent international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to a nonprofit organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. From its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than $1 billion in grants, distributing $100 million in the U.S. and around the world in 2014. The Foundation’s current assets are approximately $2.5 billion. For more information, please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org.

Improving and Increasing Permanent Supportive Housing

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We are pleased to announce that the Los Angeles chapter of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has awarded our Housing Development team a $35,000 grant to increase and improve permanent supportive housing in Downtown Los Angeles utilizing HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program.

RAD is a rental housing preservation strategy that allows properties to be converted from one type of rental subsidy to another in order to improve their financial sustainability. The LISC grant allows us to create a two-project strategy and timeline to rebuild and create over 200 units of permanent supportive housing.

Long term, the planning work conducted for this RAD pilot will allow the Trust to rebuild its oldest and most physically and financially demanding properties, thus expanding the available supply of permanent supportive housing while simultaneously improving the quality of our existing portfolio and the wellbeing of our residents.

The mission of LISC is to equip struggling communities with the capital, strategy and know-how to become places where people can thrive. In Los Angeles, LISC utilizes capital investments and capacity-building strategies to improve the economic, physical and social living environment of economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Learn more about LA LISC by visiting their web site.

Bicycle Repair Stations activate sidewalks and contribute to holistic urban forms in Downtown LA

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LADOT Bike Blog: In June 2015, LADOT installed a new bicycle corral and bicycle repair station alongside Peddler’s Creamery, the first of their kind in LA’s Downtown Historic Core.

LA mayor promises plan for ending homelessness

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KPCC: Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Thursday promised he would release a plan in August that would be a blueprint to end homelessness in Los Angeles.

 

Creating Communities

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Metropolis Magazine: In America, nineteen million low-income families are “housing insecure.” Housing specialist Katie Swenson discusses different strategies to begin tackling this urgent issue.

California using healthcare dollars to run housing for homeless

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Healthcare Finance News: The state is asking the federal government for permission to use Medicaid money to help put the most medically fragile homeless people in housing.