Homelessness Prevention

For years Welkin Foundation would receive desperate calls from people in Los Angeles who said they were on the verge of homelessness and did not know where to turn to for help. Over time Welkin Foundation came to recognize that to be truly effective, a formal and comprehensive approach was necessary so that the proper assistance could be made available in a consistent and thorough manner. As a result, Welkin Foundation developed the Los Angeles Housing Assistance Center (LAAC) in 2015, a unique program that is designed to prevent homelessness for a range of populations around Los Angeles County.

The LAAC works as a homelessness and eviction prevention initiative to help low-income adults and families in Los Angeles maintain their housing and avoid ending up on the street or in shelter. Funded by various organizations in Los Angeles, participants must meet income requirements and demonstrate that they are at imminent risk of losing their housing.

The LAAC program is unique in that it not only seeks to help resolve the immediate crisis, but also works with participants to ensure that their needs are being met in a way that will best enable them to maintain their housing in a stable manner for the long term.

Services include case management, vocational training, a housing library, help with apartment searches, legal assistance, landlord mediation, financial assistance, and mental health and substance abuse evaluations.

The LAAC has prevented homelessness for more than 95% of the households it has helped since the program’s inception in 2015.