Programs
Housing for Health partners with community providers across LA County to deliver street outreach to people experiencing unsheltered homelessness with complex medical and behavioral health needs. Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs) are comprised of clinicians assisting with physical health, mental health, and substance use, as well as case managers and staff with lived experience. The teams build relationships with people experiencing unsheltered homelessness to quickly and compassionately bring them indoors. MDTs partner with the City of Los Angeles, other cities and jurisdictions, LA County departments, LAHSA, the CEO Homeless Initiative, Metro, and other stakeholders to conduct street outreach and to support encampment resolution operations.
Multi-Disciplinary Team Program
From January 1 to December 31, 2024:
- 20,393 clients received a service or referral by MDTs
- 4,967 clients connected to interim housing
- 1,293 clients linked with or placed into permanent housing
Encampment Resolution Program
From January 1 to December 31, 2024:
- 45 County and City encampment resolution operations supported by MDTs
- 22 Service Connect events received full mobile clinic services
- 1,034 individuals served during encampment resolution efforts
Housing for Health launched LA County’s first-ever fleet of mobile clinics in 2022 to bring comprehensive health care to unsheltered people throughout the County. Mobile clinics provide comprehensive health services and address unmet patient needs for primary care, urgent care, psychiatric care, mental health, sexual health, substance use, and harm reduction. The mobile clinic program works closely with the Housing for Health Multi-Disciplinary Teams and receives referrals from the teams to help patients with complex medical and behavioral health issues. Mobile clinics also partner with County departments, cities, outreach teams, faith-based organizations, homeless service providers, and other community-based agencies.
From January 1 to December 31, 2024:
- 2,880 unique patients served by the mobile clinic program
- 7,085 total clinical encounters recorded by the mobile clinic program
Mobile Clinic Flyers
Please click here for information about where the mobile clinics will be located. Come join us – we provide medical and behavioral health care, medications and more.
Read about the mobile clinics here.
Housing for Health’s Clinical Services takes two approaches.
Direct: Teams of Housing for Health nurses, providers, social workers, and substance-use counselors provide wrap-around care for individuals struggling with physical and behavioral health comorbidities and provide complex care management services in non-traditional settings (riverbeds, shelters, and apartments) to improve the client’s health outcomes, enhance meaningful connections to health care, and optimize the client’s function and quality of life.
Contracted Partners: Housing for Health clinical and non-clinical staff provide robust training and technical assistance to subcontracted outreach workers and case managers, so that they can accompany individuals to medical appointments, improve adherence to medications and treatment recommendations, and build client health literacy and disease self-management skills.
Located in the heart of Skid Row, the Star Clinic is a patient-centered medical home that specializes in the care of unhoused and previously unhoused patients, all of whom require a special touch from a compassionate, trauma informed healthcare team. The clinic acts as a hub of clinical services and specializes in serving patients with complex physical and/or behavioral health issues. Star Clinic provides low barrier medical and behavioral health care for patients residing in interim and permanent housing, returning from prison or jail, and for those recently discharged from a DHS hospital. The multidisciplinary team at Star Clinic works closely with the housing programs at Housing for Health to provide enhanced care management and primary care services to address the social determinants of health for some of LA County’s most vulnerable populations.
From January 1 to December 31, 2024:
- 5,120 unique patient encounters by Star Clinic staff providing primary services
- 281 patients enrolled in the Enhanced Care Management program with 6,075 interventions delivered to high acuity clients
The Interim Housing (IH) program provides an avenue for people experiencing homelessness to safely move inside and connect with services and permanent housing. Housing for Health specializes in providing this temporary housing for individuals with complex medical and behavioral health conditions. The program offers three types of housing: triage beds with clinical staff onsite 24/7 to rapidly triage participants into other interim settings; recuperative care for individuals who are recovering from an acute illness or injury and need stable housing with medical care; and stabilization housing for people with complex health and/or behavioral health conditions who require supportive services not available in most shelters.
In addition, the interim housing clinical support program, comprised of dedicated Housing for Health occupational therapists and registered nurses, provided expert training and technical assistance to interim housing operators throughout 2024. The clinicians also provided direct services to high-risk and high-need Housing for Health interim housing participants.
For Contracted Providers: Interim Housing Program Outcomes
From January 1 to December 31, 2024:
- 189 days: average length of stay among interim housing participants in stabilization housing and recuperative care sites
- 6,692 interim housing clients served
- 1,109 clients, or 37% of interim housing exits, placed in permanent housing
Interim Housing Application Forms:
Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) is an evidence-based intervention that ends homelessness for vulnerable people with complex health conditions by pairing housing subsidies and supportive services. Housing for Health matches people with housing subsidies to Intensive Case Management Services (ICMS), which are delivered by community-based providers. Intensive Case Management Services are supplemented with the wraparound support of in-home caregivers that bridge to In-Home Supportive Services, field-based medical support by Housing for Health specialty mental health care from the Department of Mental Health, and substance use services by the Department of Public Health-Substance Abuse Prevention and Control. Integrating these services promotes housing retention and improves individuals’ health and overall wellbeing.
Additionally, Housing for Health clinical care teams provide medical care to clients through the PSH clinical support program. Services include complex care management to help individuals at risk of losing their homes and/or suffering from premature illness, disease, or mortality because of physical and behavioral health conditions. This initiative targets individuals with chronic illnesses, substance use disorders, severe mental health symptoms, and difficulties navigating health and social services.
For Contracted Providers: Find more information on the PSH ICMS Information Center.
From January 1 to December 31, 2024:
- 25,382 individuals throughout LA County received ICMS
- 4,859 individuals newly housed in PSH
- 94% of PSH participants retained housing for 1 year
- 83% of PSH participants retained housing for 2 years
The Enriched Residential Care (ERC) program provides housing placements for individuals who have complex physical and behavioral health conditions and need ongoing help managing their health and completing activities of daily living. Participants referred to enriched residential care are often discharged from an inpatient hospital, living in an unsheltered setting, or living in housing or interim housing that lacks the higher level of care that they need. Participants are placed in licensed residential care facilities (commonly known as board and care facilities) that provide around the clock staffing, care and supervision, and assistance with activities such as eating, bathing, and dressing.
The ERC clinical support program provided clinical care to stabilize clients and to support them in gaining the independence that they needed to transition into permanent supportive housing. Medical case workers provided client case management while nurses, occupational therapists, and social workers collaborated to support client stabilization and transitions.
From January 1 to December 31, 2024:
- 859 individuals served
- 226 individuals newly placed
The Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool (FHSP) is a fiscal and contractual tool that enables Housing for Health and its partners to combine various revenue sources to create housing options and fund local rent subsidies. The Flex Pool is administered by Housing for Health’s partner Brilliant Corners, who works with property owners and housing developers to secure housing units. Housing units secured may be both project-based, representing an entire building or portion of a building, or individual tenant-based units in private apartment buildings. The Flex Pool allows Housing for Health to respond quickly and nimbly to the needs of vulnerable people experiencing homelessness. In addition to serving the needs of Housing for Health’s clients, the Flex Pool is used to acquire and administer housing units for a wide variety of County departments and the overall homeless system in Los Angeles County.
The Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024, marking a decade of groundbreaking work that has led to over 13,000 people getting housed. The partnership between Housing for Health and Brilliant Corners began in 2014 as a unique public/private partnership and has grown exponentially since then.
From January 1 to December 31, 2024:
- 6,508 households housed through FHSP subsidies
- 2,059 households newly housed through tenant-based and project-based subsidies
- 347 households served through CalAIM Community Supports Housing Deposits
- $1,100,000 in CalAIM Community Supports Housing Deposits distributed
- 360 project-based units secured
- 231 new project-based housing units available for lease up
The Countywide Benefits Entitlement Services Team (CBEST) helps unhoused people, individuals at risk of homelessness, veterans, and formerly incarcerated people apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI). CBEST consists of dedicated benefit advocates, clinicians, and legal service partners who provide comprehensive services to support successful disability benefit applications.
Many people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness are entitled to federal, state, and local benefits, but are not able to submit successful benefits applications. CBEST partners with participants to ensure that they can submit successful benefits applications and appeal benefits denials. For many disabled households, receiving disability benefits can be life changing and can mean the difference between being able to afford rent or experiencing homelessness.
For Contracted Providers: Referring to CBEST
From January 1 to December 31, 2024:
- 8,817 individuals enrolled in CBEST
- 3,536 benefits applications submitted
- 84% approval rate for benefits claims
- $1,144 average monthly award
- $9,379,379 total awarded in retroactive back pay