December 09, 2021
East LA native’s blanket drives bring warmth to families in need
Christy Gomez, through her Proyecto Happy Hearts, donates dozens of blankets to the Comunidad Cesar Chavez transitional living facility each holiday season. (Courtesy Christy Gomez)
Gomez’s blanket drives began on Black Friday nine years ago. She was on her couch and in a bad mood. All she saw on social media was people celebrating their own, personal shopping scores and jealousy was getting the better of her.
“I was grouchy, mad that I could never shop on Black Friday, and then I realized: I had a blanket, I was watching cable, rent was ready to be paid and life wasn’t so bad,” Gomez said. She felt selfish and even a bit annoyed at the people taking advantage of Black Friday deals for their own benefit.
So she decided to do something about it.
Gomez made a post of her own, asking if people would be willing to meet her at a park, where she would collect blankets and socks and find a place to drop them off. A friend offered their bar as a drop-point for the blankets, and Gomez was stunned by the turnout.
The bounty of blankets and socks were delivered, by hand, to Comunidad Cesar Chavez, an East LA transitional living facility.
November 23, 2021
Giving for All Seasons
The Artinians with LA Family Housing donation coordinator Terry Lotka. (Photo courtesy of Michelle and Nicole Artinian.)
Michelle and Nicole Artinian have dedicated their careers to helping families find their dream homes. As the Artinian Realty Group of Corcoran Global Living, the sisters serve clients across the Valley and the greater Los Angeles area, focusing on residential real estate. Yet they also recognize that housing is a complicated issue, and far too many Angelenos are unhoused or struggling to keep a roof over their heads. They wanted to find a way to help those less fortunate neighbors, too.
“We have a huge passion for giving back in as many ways as possible,” Michelle explains. “During the winter holidays for the last eight years, Nicole and I have helped by adopting a family. However, we wanted to find an organization we could work with throughout the year and not just during the holidays. Finding an organization that gives back to the community we live and work in was also extremely important for us.” After researching different local charities, they were thrilled to discover LA Family Housing (LAFH), a North Hollywood–based nonprofit that helps people transition out of homelessness and poverty. One of the largest providers of housing and homeless services in Los Angeles, LAFH serves more than 11,000 people per year and places more than 2,000 into housing annually, operating 26 properties that offer temporary, permanently affordable and permanent supportive housing throughout the Valley and across L.A.
October 6, 2021
California Put Homeless People in Hotel Rooms. Then What?
(Graphic courtesy of LA Times Studios)
Project Roomkey, made possible by the pandemic, sheltered thousands of people. Here's how it both succeeded and failed.
Listen to the full episode on “The Times: Daily News From the L.A. Times”.
September 28, 2021
Permanent Homes and Ongoing Support for Angelenos Experiencing Homelessness
(Photo: LA Family Housing)
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.
September 13, 2021
Stephanie Klasky-Gamer Keeps Hope in Los Angeles
Stephanie Klasky-Gamer walks through the Irmas Family Campus. (Photo by Philip Cheung)
The cupcakes were a big part of 2020. They started arriving on Stephanie Klasky-Gamer’s porch each week, delivered by a friend and bakery owner determined to maintain pre-pandemic volumes to keep her staff employed during COVID-19. Since the bakery had fewer customers than it otherwise would, Klasky-Gamer got the surplus sweets.
As president and CEO of LA Family Housing (LAFH), one of the largest providers of housing and homeless services in Los Angeles, Klasky-Gamer can always find a use for free desserts. Lately, the busy leader and lifelong advocate has been hand delivering them to residents of LAFH properties, participants of the agency’s services, and to staff working across the city to show her appreciation for their dedicated work.
Klasky-Gamer is a hands-on leader with a big heart. She was once a teenage volunteer during the 1980s at LAFH’s Valley Shelter in North Hollywood. That site was demolished in 2016 to make way for LA Family Housing’s $40 million, 80,000-square-foot headquarters, the Irmas Family Campus at LA Family Housing. The campus embodies LAFH’s mission and vision.
June 29, 2021
L.A. Housing Nonprofit Finds New Ways to Reach More Supporters
(Photo by The Chronicle of Philanthropy)
LA Family Housing has been helping homeless people for more than three decades. The Los Angeles organization buys motels and hotels and converts them into apartments that provide both temporary and permanent housing. It also offers a wide range of support services to help vulnerable people gain access to food, mental and physical health care, and other assistance that helps them avoid homelessness.
When the pandemic struck last March, LA Family Housing officials had to scramble to change how it carries out its work and persuades donors to support the organization. Some of the new approaches have worked so well that the nonprofit plans to make the changes permanent, both in its programs and in fundraising.
“We’ve found not just new ways of providing services, but we’ve increased our assets enormously in these last 15 months,” says Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, LA Family Housing’s CEO. “How we reach out to the philanthropic community to support that level of expansion is a whole other way that we’ve changed.”
Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced it recently made over $150,000 in energy efficiency upgrades at four affordable housing communities owned by LA Family Housing, located in North Hollywood and Van Nuys. SoCalGas installed high-efficiency boilers, 120-gallon storage tanks for water storage, pipe insulation and more, assisting more than 220 residents. The work is part of SoCalGas' Energy Savings Assistance (ESA) program's Common Area Measures (CAM) effort to cut energy use and costs as well as improve the health, comfort and safety of residents living in low-income multifamily properties.
"SoCalGas is pleased to provide these no cost upgrades for the residents at the LA Family Housing properties," said Gillian Wright, senior vice president and chief customer officer at SoCalGas and LA Family Housing Board Chair.
Homeless services officials estimate that on average it takes them four to six months to complete the cumbersome process for filling a vacancy in one of the thousands of supportive housing units in Los Angeles County, leaving hundreds of units vacant for weeks on end.
The bureaucratic barriers responsible for that backlog come in a plethora of paperwork: different application forms to request housing vouchers from each of the county’s 19 housing authorities and different rental applications required by the dozens of housing providers.
Now the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has launched a digital app to cut through that paperwork. Called the universal housing application, it allows caseworkers to fill out a single digital form for every purpose. That form auto-fills basic information about the client from LAHSA’s Homeless Management Information System.
LAFH President & CEO Stephanie Klasky-Gamer addressed viewers at Home Together. COURTESY OF LA FAMILY HOUSING
LAFH went #live for Home Together on Thursday night, a virtual event that raised awareness and funds for LAFH's work to build more affordable homes and support Angelenos on their journey out of homelessness.
"The event — produced by Tawny Harrison, creative technology agency PXL and creative production agency Core Creative Labs which designed a digital stage — was broadcast via a custom website as well as on Facebook and YouTube. Entertainment came via musical performances from Darius Rucker, Boney James, Ledisi and The Linda Lindas. As part of the event, "Home Together" provided guests with the opportunity to enhance home viewing by ordering meals from restaurant partners including Angelini Osteria, Big Sugar Bakeshop, Dulan’s on Crenshaw, Gasolina Cafe, Golden Rice Co., Hotville Chicken, Maker Wine, Nick + Stef’s Steakhouse, Oui! Cheese, Petrossian Restaurant & Boutique, Redbird and Socalo." - Chris Gardner
If you weren’t able to attend Home Together, you can still watch the show online.
Nick + Stef’s Steakhouse is on the menu for Home Together (Courtesy LAFH)
LA Family Housing is excited to partner with some of the best chefs in L.A.
"The Home Together experience will offer special menus and drinks from restaurant partners Angelini Osteria, Big Sugar Bakeshop, Dulan’s on Crenshaw, Gasolina Cafe, Golden Rice Co., Hotville Chicken, Maker Wine, Nick + Stef’s Steakhouse, Oui! Cheese, Petrossian Restaurant & Boutique, Redbird, and Socalo. Up to 50% of the proceeds from each purchase go directly to LA Family Housing."
Home Together 2021 will celebrate our courageous participants and staff while raising critical funds to support the lifesaving work of LA Family Housing. Your continued support allows us to respond to the increased urgency of the homelessness crisis due to COVID-19.
Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images; Michael Kovac/Getty Images; Jason Kempin/Getty Images; GP Images/Getty Images
LA Family Housing is finalizing the details for its 2nd annual virtual fundraiser, "Home Together," booking a slew of celebrities, elected officials and high-profile performers along with host Matt Rogers.
The program includes Ted Danson, Kristen Bell, Darius Rucker, Ledisi, L.A. City Council member Nithya Raman, L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, and event co-chair Blair Rich.
The organization, which seeks to help people transition out of homelessness and poverty through a continuum of housing enriched with supportive services, will present the event on April 29 as a way to raise awareness and funds for its work to end homelessness in L.A. County. Event co-chairs include Blair Rich, Karen Brodkin, and Zeeda Daniele.
February 26, 2021
Meta Housing Corp. Begins Affordable Development in LA
MULTIFAMILY DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED TO GROW IN CALIFORNIA AS THE ECONOMY REBOUNDS AND HOUSING DEMAND GROWS AGAIN. PHOTO: SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES
At 47,800 square feet, Silva Crossing will include 53 studios sized at 400 square feet, and three one-bedroom units with about 550 square feet, as well as ground-floor retail. Y&M Architects designed the project. KPRS is the contractor.
“There is a demonstrated shortage of housing for persons who are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles,” said Kasey Burke, president of Meta Housing. “Silva Crossing will provide these individuals with a safe and stable living environment while offering case management and other supportive services that are so greatly needed in this region.”
February 18, 2021
Advocates push to prioritize homeless population for COVID-19 vaccine
LAFH is operating two COVID-19 vaccine locations to help reach the unhoused populations as well as conducting outreach with street medicine teams to ensure that the vaccine is available to both sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness who are eligible for the vaccine.
“'What is great about this pilot is that they are recognizing their unique community strategies,' said Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, president and CEO of LA Family Housing. 'They’re working with us as a local provider. We know our region really well, we know how to connect with our participants, and we know what sites are more accessible than others.'"
The conversation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines brings to light the larger issue of health and medical services for individuals experiencing homelessness.
“Homelessness in the richest country on earth is a moral issue, and a moral crisis,” Watts said. “We really have the resources to ensure that people are safely housed, but we have chosen not to. And we have seen in this pandemic how that endangers the whole of public health.”
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti (Photo: Getty Images)
Mayor Eric Garcetti joined Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, and LAFH during a virtual celebration for the grand opening of the West Valley's first Bridge Housing site, which is meant to provide transitional housing to people experiencing homelessness. Before his remarks, Garcetti broke into an original rendition of ‘My Favorite Things.'
"The Willows, in Canoga Park, opened to residents on Feb. 1 and will provide them with resources including case management, space for animals, and larger quarters for couples. The 75-bed facility is the first Bridge Housing (site) to accommodate opposite-sex couples.
(It) was named “The Willows'' for the Tongva nation, which “nurtured'' the site and used to construct their homes out of willow branches, according to Los Angeles Family Housing's Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, who said her organization received the blessing of Tongva Chief Anthony Morales to build the facility.
The (site) was designed with trauma-informed principles, including skylights for natural sunlight to help residents with mental health issues and depression. Residents are also able to bring emotional support and service animals with them to the facility, which has a cat and dog room outfitted with kennels and hammocks."
Natosha Johnson moves inside her new home in North Hills. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
LA Family Housing is proud to be part of the success of Project Homekey, a state program that has purchased and rehabilitated buildings for homeless individuals. The speed and flexibility the state offered local governments have resulted in one of the largest expansions in shelter for homeless people ever, making possible the rapid rehousing of families like Natosha Johnson's.
"In total, a little over 95 projects totaling 6,000 units are planned to be purchased or have been purchased by municipalities or housing authorities, according to state officials. In Los Angeles, the city and county will add about 1,800 units — 1,000 in the city, the rest outside it." - Benjamin Oreskes | Staff Writer (L.A. Times)
“What I think was so extraordinary about this process was the ability to achieve pace and scale and open up units so quickly,” said L.A. Family Housing’s president & CEO Stephanie Klasky-Gamer.