The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the City of Los Angeles, and the County of Los Angeles are having community input sessions on the how the State's Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) Grant Program funds can be utilized.

This program, now in its third round of funding, is designed to provide resources to: (1) each Continuum of Care; (2) each of the 55 counties; and (3) the State's 13 largest cities. Locally, the $1 billion allocation includes:

LA CoC: $84.2 million
LA County: $82.3 million
LA City: $143.6 million

Uses of the funding are quite broad. Please see pages 15-16 of the NOFA for more details.

Learn more about HHAP

View the HHAP Round 3 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)

RSVP for the Tuesday, March 15th Feedback Session from 9:00-10:30 am

RSVP for the Wednesday, March 23rd Feedback Session from 5:30-7:00 pm

Subscribe to California's ICH email updates

Visit Cal ICH's website

Subscribe to California's ICH email updates

Visit Cal ICH's website

The State of California is growing its presence in homelessness policies and solutions. We encourage you to get on State's Interagency Council on Homelessness' (ICH) email list to get updates on its activities, especially now that Governor Newsom has proposed a historical $12 billion to address homelessness.

Applications to the State's COVID-19 Rent Relief Program will be closing at the end of March, offering free financial assistance to landlords and renters who need help with unpaid or future rent or utilities. To apply:

* Online 24/7 at housingiskey.com

* Schedule an appointment with a nearby organization by calling 833-687-0967 who can help determine eligibility and assistance with completing the application.

LA COUNTY NEWS & EVENTS

Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness (BRCH) Meeting

The LA County Board of Supervisors created the BRCH to research and give recommendations for a new county governance model to address homelessness. The Commission is convening every other Wednesday's.

On the March 16th agenda:

• Presentation by the City of El Monte - Alma K. Martinez, City Manager

• Blue-Ribbon Commission on Homelessness discussion and vote on recommendations and options.

Wednesday, March 16^th @ 9:00 am

View the Agenda with a link to join the meeting, and to the presentations

Optional call-in at:

• Ph: 213-306-3065

• Access #: 2591 016 6917

• Password: 27240316

(please note the Access # and Password change each meeting)

Visit the BRCH's website for additional information, including audio recordings from past meetings

Housing Rights Center's (HRC) Project Place Rental Listings for Los Angeles and Ventura Counties

Housing Rights Center's (HRC) Project Place Rental Listings for Los Angeles and Ventura Counties

March 2022

The Housing Rights Center (HRC) is the nation’s largest nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to promoting and securing fair housing. This resource provides an extensive listing of affordable and low income housing units in LA County.

2022 Rental Listings (71 pp)View HRC's March 2022 Rental Listings (71 pp)

State & National Resources

LITIGATION MANUAL SUPPLEMENT: Criminalization of Homelessness Case Summaries 2022

The National Homelessness Law Center’s Litigation Manual Supplement shows that litigation continues to be a successful tool in the fight to decriminalize homelessness, with most of the lawsuits filed to challenge criminalization laws and enforcement practices finding success in court. This Supplement highlights increasing success rates in cases seeking to address punitive measures targeting people experiencing homelessness, such as anti-camping laws, panhandling restrictions, prohibitions against residing in vehicles, and other dehumanizing policies.

• The Supplement shows, among other key findings, that most successful cases were brought against camping bans and sweeps, with 144 out of 281 cases resulting in favorable decisions.

• The second largest category of cases challenged panhandling bans, with a 100% success rate in all cases brought after the important Supreme Court decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert in 2015.

• Additionally, 77% of cases challenging loitering, loafing, and vagrancy bans, and 66% of cases challenging food sharing bans, resulted in favorable outcomes.

Read NHLC's Litigation Supplement (130 pp)

Free CSH Courses Offered
During March

CSH is offering five self-pace courses free of charge this month:

1. Avoiding Burnout

2. Housing First and Harm Reduction

3. Working with Tenants: Key Strategies for Front Desk, Facilities, and Office Staff

4. Trauma Informed Approaches to Supportive Housing

5. Healthcare Navigation Basics for Supportive Housing

Visit CSH's Website for more information

California Interagency Council on Homelessness
Family Homelessness Challenge Grant RFA is live

Cal ICH announced the release of the Request for Applications (RFA) for the Family Homelessness Challenge (FHC) Grant Program. The FHC program provides $30 million in local assistance funds to address and end family homelessness. This RFA is for Round 1 of funds, totaling $15 million (FHC-1).

Cal ICH seeks applications from local jurisdictions (cities and counties) and Continuums of Care (CoCs) to accelerate efforts to address and end family homelessness by making families’ experiences of homelessness rare, brief, and one-time. Applicants must demonstrate how their proposal:

• Promotes rapid innovation, accelerates nascent programs, expands promising practices, meets new demands and conditions for solutions targeted towards ending family homelessness.

• Offers promise for being scaled and replicated to support statewide efforts to address and end family homelessness.

• Demonstrates cross-systems collaboration, multifunder initiatives, and innovative efforts that coordinate across funding streams and systems. More specifically, proposals shall leverage other resources and / or funds.

Applications are due by 5pm on April 30, 2022.

View the FHC Request For Application

Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) during the Pandemic: Implications for the Design of Permanent ERA Programs

NLIHC and the University of Pennsylvania’s Housing Initiative at Penn have released a new report that examines a broad range of emergency rental assistance (ERA) programs and provides lessons that would be useful in future efforts to establish permanent ERA programs.

As the report shows, ERA programs faced persistent challenges in four areas: (1) staff capacity, technology, and infrastructure; (2) tenant responsiveness and application completeness; (3) landlord responsiveness; and (4) federal oversight. The report concludes by providing four important considerations for efforts to establish permanent ERA programs:

• Sufficient and sustained funding is important for building adequate infrastructure and capacity. 

• Flexibility in eligibility and documentation requirements, as well as targeted outreach, are important for program accessibility.

• Direct-to-tenant assistance can also improve program accessibility. 

• Clear and timely guidance and program parameters can increase program administrators’ certainty in making decisions on infrastructure, capacity, and program design.

View the ERA Report (14 pp)

National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) "Tenant Talk"

The new issue of Tenant Talk – a semi-annual newsletter created by NLIHC to engage renters and residents in housing advocacy – is now available! Each issue highlights innovative approaches to housing advocacy and recent victories won by tenants around the country, as well as discussions of key housing issues playing out in Congress. The new winter issue, Tenant Talk: Emergency Rental Assistance at All Angles, focuses on emergency rental assistance (ERA) programs and explores how ERA has impacted tenants navigating the economic challenges of the pandemic.