Beyond Shelter: Los Angeles Programs, Demonstration Projects

In February 2011, Beyond Shelter launched a one-year, federally funded (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) Demonstration Project aimed at addressing the ongoing impact of the economic recession on low-income and at-risk families with children in South Los Angeles. The target area is one of the poorest and most underserved communities in the U.S., whose unemployment, poverty, and homeless rates were disproportionately high prior to the economic downtown and have only climbed over the last three years. The Demonstration Project is testing a neighborhood-based model of outreaching, engaging, and coordinating resources and services for low-income and at-risk families, particularly for those who have experienced recession-related job loss/income reduction and housing instability.

Approximately 200 families will receive time-limited case management and/or workforce development services (e.g., 3-6 months) geared to identifying and addressing their immediate, short-term, and longer-term needs, with a focus on reducing barriers to employment participation and housing stability. Early intervention services, including vocational training, job placement, eviction prevention, health/mental health care, benefits linkages, and housing relocation, will be provided to prevent family crises from spiraling downward into long-term problems and diminished well-being overall. Through a combination of direct services delivered by Demonstration Project staff and facilitated linkages to resources and services that exist in the community at-large, the goal of the project is to improve the social and economic well-being of families served.

The project is located at one of Beyond Shelter's Neighborhood Resource Centers, which serves as a single point-of-contact to connect residents of surrounding neighborhoods with access to resources and services in the greater community at-large. It is expected that the project will demonstrate a cost-effective way to address household and neighborhood barriers to services access and coordination in a target area where resources and services are traditionally fragmented and difficult to access.

The Skid Row Families Demonstration Project (January 2007-December 2009) was a nonprofit-government collaboration intended to address the growing ranks of family homelessness in Los Angeles' Skid Row neighborhood. The Demonstration Project was designed to test an innovative model of services integration involving multiple public agencies and a nonprofit agency, as well as test a flexible and individualized housing-based intervention for 300 high-risk and/or chronically homeless families.

Beyond Shelter served as the lead provider for the project, with primary responsibility for program design and implementation. Partnering with the agency were the L.A. County Departments of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Public Social Services (DPSS), Mental Health (DMH), Health Services (DHS), and Public Health (DPH), and the Housing Authorities, City of Los Angeles (HACLA) and County of Los Angeles (HACoLA). The Chief Executive Office (CEO) of L.A. County provided oversight for the project, while DCFS served as project coordinator.

The Demonstration Project consisted of two primary program components. Families encountered in Skid Row were first screened and assessed by the LA County-operated Skid Row Assessment Team, and then referred to Beyond Shelter for further assessment and subsequent enrollment in the Crisis Intervention Program - Program Phase I. This component included crisis intervention services and temporary housing located outside Skid Row. Once their crisis needs were addressed, families were referred to Beyond Shelter's Housing First Program - Program Phase II.

As a rapid rehousing model, the Housing First Program is predicated on moving homeless families into permanent housing as quickly as possible and then providing them, through home visitation, the case management services that are traditionally provided in transitional housing programs. As an adaptation of this model, the Demonstration Project was intentionally designed as a "high tolerance" program intended to engage families who are typically refused services by other programs due to presenting issues or family makeup, or who refuse to participate in services when offered. Dysfunctional behavior and/or noncompliance with program activities did not necessarily result in termination of services. Once families were assisted into affordable, private-market rental housing with their own lease agreements, Beyond Shelter provided home-based case management for six months (and telephone contact for six more) to help each family stabilize in permanent housing and rebuild their lives.

The Demonstration Project yielded strong housing outcomes. 82% of participants (241 out of 295) achieved permanent housing. At least 60 families (25% of housed cohort) moved into permanent housing with their own lease agreements for the first time in their lives. The overall housing retention rate was 97%, as measured at case closure, typically 12 months in permanent housing. At two-year follow-up, approximately 84% of families had confirmed housing retention. There were few statistically significant differences between housed and non-housed families.

Process and outcomes evaluation reports from the Demonstration Project can be accessed through the following links:

Final Evaluation Report: Housing Stability and Family Well-Being. July 2010.
Click here to view the report.

Evaluation Report: Permanent Housing Outcomes. November 2009.
Click here to view the report.

Alternative Shelter Models to Address Rapidly Rising Family Homelessness: The Master Leasing of Apartments as Emergency Shelter. July 2009.
Click here to view the Alternatives to Shelter Policy Brief.

Year One Report Abstract. September 2008.
Click here to view the report.

As a result of a grant from the UCLA Center for Community Partnerships, Beyond Shelter Institute staff and graduate students from the University of California, Los Angeles are conducting a comprehensive community needs assessment of an area targeted by the Broadway South Neighborhood Revitalization Project, along South Broadway in South Los Angeles. The needs assessment will be utilized to help expand the design of neighborhood services coordination at Broadway Village I and provide a basis for the implementation plan for neighborhood services coordination at Broadway Village II when construction is completed in 2005. This project will also demonstrate a practical application in Los Angeles that will be replicable in other neighborhoods in L.A. County and throughout the country.

The manual resulting from the project - Needs Assessments and Implementation Plan for Neighborhood-Based Services Coordination in South L.A. - will help to guide the development of programs and services at the two Neighborhood Resource Centers and become a model for other agencies in the county to replicate cost effectively and without duplication of services. The manual will be disseminated locally to community groups, government entities, elected officials and private foundations to provide both a current view of needs and strengths of the targeted community and also a cost-effective methodology to meet the needs and build upon the strengths of a community in distress. It will also be incorporated into Beyond Shelter's national work and curriculum of the agency's Institute for Research, Training and Technical Assistance.

California Endowment - Neighborhood-Based Services Coordination Demonstration Project (2002-2004) The purpose of this project was to pilot a model for improving the social and economic well-being of residents of a neighborhood surrounding a new affordable housing and childcare facility in South Los Angeles. The model, neighborhood-based services coordination, represents a new Beyond Shelter initiative and is a tool that connects residents of a neighborhood with access to resources and services in the greater community. It emphasizes the use of existing resources, interagency collaboration, and partnerships between residents, service-providers, and other stakeholders, thereby reducing barriers to existing services and promoting the development of additional services where gaps exist. A key element is that residents of the neighborhood participate in the planning processes and ongoing implementation of programs and activities. Neighborhood-based services coordination is a preventative approach as opposed to a crisis-oriented approach to meeting human needs. It is a component of the Broadway South Neighborhood Revitalization Project.

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The Federal Department of Labor (DOL) - Welfare-to-Work Demonstration Project (One of five grants awarded in the Los Angeles area; 1998-2001.) This $1.2 million, 30-month project provided job placement and retention services to over 200 hard-to-employ, primarily single females, who had been long-term recipients of Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF). The project focused on stabilizing participants in permanent housing as an essential supporting factor for their employment. Case management services were provided for one year subsequent to each participant's employment to ensure their long-term job retention.

All of the participants in the program faced major barriers to employment, such as lack of education, poor work histories or recovery from drug and/or alcohol addictions. Over 90 percent of participants were minority, single female heads of household. The program utilized Beyond Shelter's team approach methodology, which involves a collaboration between a case manager and an employment counselor to help clients find and retain jobs. Case managers addressed the needs of the family as a whole, while employment counselors worked exclusively on employment-related issues.

Beyond Shelter exceeded the project's goals of addressing the employment barriers of 200 TANF-dependent families and placing 100 participants in unsubsidized employment for at least six months. At the project's end the agency had served 265 participants, with 206 successfully completing the program. Of those, 102 were placed in unsubsidized employment and 86 in subsidized employment.

The research center at the University of Southern California, School of Social Work was the evaluator of the project. For more information, read about Beyond Shelter's Welfare-To-Work Demonstration Project Program.

The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - Moving to Opportunity Demonstration Project (1995-96) This five-city (Boston, New York, Chicago, Baltimore and Los Angeles) demonstration project was conducted in collaboration with the Housing Authority of Los Angeles and was designed to help families move from public housing projects to overty census track neighborhoods. It involved the provision of one year of case management help families transition to social and economic self-sufficiency.

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The Federal Department of Health and Human Services - Family Support Center Demonstration Project (One of 24 grants awarded nationwide; 1992-95.) This project relocated 320 homeless families to permanent housing. It involved the provision of intensive case management and supportive services for up to one year, including child development classes, money management classes and job development assistance. The project also assisted families with Section 8 certification.

The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - Los Angeles Early Intervention Demonstration Project for Recently Homeless and At-Risk Families (One of five grants awarded nationwide; 1990-93.) The project was implemented collaboratively with Para Los Niños in L.A.'s Skid Row. Phase I involved the provision of emergency and crisis services and Phase II involved the provision of permanent housing relocation assistance and case management services to 75-100 families per year. Through this project, Beyond Shelter launched the Los Angeles Coordinating Council for Homeless Families.

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