Los Angeles County has committed $308 million to an ambitious COVID-19 recovery plan with the goal of quickly finding homes for 15,000 people experiencing homelessness, according to Heidi Marston, director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).
The funds will be used to buy hotels and lease apartments and houses, including some from the private rental market, and begin moving people who were sheltered in hotels and recreation centers at the beginning of the pandemic into actual residences.
Many additional people who were identified by LAHSA during the pandemic as being medically vulnerable or over age 65 will also be housed under the plan.
The $308 million will come largely from the federal government -- the CARES Act as well as Medicaid. Marston said housing all 15,000 people will ultimately require more than just this funding commitment -- the full plan as budgeted requires $800 million -- but that this initial commitment is enough to get the ball moving.
“We have the bandwidth and the resourcing to really scale up in a different way," Marston said. "And we have the market that looks different than it normally does. So we don't want to let the moment go to waste."
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