LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass today joined the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles and U.S.VETS to announce a partnership that will help prevent veterans from falling into homelessness when there are resources available to help them. The Mayor also discussed an upcoming advocacy trip to Washington, DC, where she and the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) Task Force on Homelessness will lead a bipartisan group of more than 40 Mayors from across the country to meet with members of the Biden Administration, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives to advance federal policy to help bring unhoused veterans inside and to keep low-income veterans from falling into homelessness.
“For far too long, government and nonprofit sectors have worked independently on efforts to prevent homelessness”, said Mayor Karen Bass. “The Mayor’s Fund’s We Are LA homelessness prevention efforts are stretching resources further, reaching more people, and helping prevent people from falling into homelessness in the first place. The new partnership with U.S.VETS will allow for efficient and effective work to prevent veterans from falling into homelessness and in just a few weeks, Mayors from across the country will go to our nation’s capital to advocate for our shared priorities for those who served this country because it is time for our veterans to receive the housing support and services that they deserve.”
As Chair of USCM’s Task Force on Homelessness, Mayor Bass is leading an advocacy trip at the end of April to help bring unhoused veterans inside and to keep low-income veterans from falling into homelessness. Mayors joining the trip include USCM President Reno (NV) Mayor Hillary Schieve, USCM Second Vice President Oklahoma City (OK) Mayor David Holt and Chair of USCM’s Community Development and Housing Committee Toledo (OH) Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz. The Mayors will push for securing additional housing vouchers, increasing project-based voucher flexibility to build more permanent and supportive housing and expanding eligibility of housing vouchers to ensure our unhoused veterans are not left behind due to receiving disability income benefits. EDs: FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRIP PLEASE EMAIL LAMAYORNEWS@LACITY.ORG
“We Are LA is helping us reach even more veterans in danger of becoming homeless,” said Stephen Peck, President and CEO of U.S.VETS. “Many veterans who face homelessness are struggling with physical or mental health issues that can be traced directly back to their service to our country. Others are aging. No matter the reason they’re struggling, we owe a safe, clean place to live to every single person who risked their lives for this country.”
“More than 6,000 eviction notices were filed in February alone,” said Conway Collis, President and CEO of the Mayor’s Fund. “We owe a special debt to veterans. U.S.VETS does crucial work, and more veterans in LA will avoid homelessness through this partnership. The fact is, the only way we are ever going to reduce and end homelessness is by preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place.”
U.S.VETS offers many resources to ensure veterans never find themselves without shelter, including emergency, transitional, and permanent housing. Their goal is always permanent housing. Services provided by U.S.VETS at Patriotic Hall include:
Full Career and Employment Counseling
Full support for women veterans by women veterans, including case management, mental health counseling, access to childcare, housing assistance, connection to the Department of Military and Veteran Affairs for benefit assistance
Support for veterans on community college campuses, including mental health
Access to federal funding for veterans and their families in danger of becoming homeless
Case management support for newly housed veterans to support housing permanence
Access to federal funding for homeless veterans
Legal advocacy
Services available at the U.S.VETS office in Inglewood will also be available to Angelenos referred by the Mayor’s Fund. The Mayor’s Fund created We Are LA to help connect Angelenos in danger of becoming homeless to every resource available to them – public and private. They send outreach workers to knock on the doors of people who have been served eviction notices, provide casework to connect at-risk Angelenos to resources, host tenant resource clinics and operate a hotline for anyone struggling to pay rent. More information about We Are LA is available at www.mayorsfundla.org. Veterans and Angelenos who fear they may risk eviction can call the We Are LA hotline at 213-584-1808.