“One homeless child in the street is too many,” said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. “We are pleased to make these funds available to best-practice service providers such as Upward Bound House.”
Upward Bound House (UBH), was awarded $1,042,640 by the First Five LA Commission in support of homeless families; Yaroslavsky is the chair of the commission. The funds will be used to provide short-term rental assistance and subsidies to homeless families with children under the age of five.
One of the largest challenges in ending family homelessness in Los Angeles is the lack of affordable housing in the County. “These funds from First Five LA will be transformative to the families we serve”, said David Snow, Executive Director of Upward Bound House. “The families we serve have fallen on hard times and need just a little bit of help to get back on their feet. This grant will allow us to provide that extra assistance and ensure they don’t relapse back into homelessness.”
Short-term rental assistance is a proven model for helping homeless families with relatively low barriers to housing achieve permanent stability and self-sufficiency. UBH piloted a demonstration project two years ago funded by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky which helped 14 families. Supervisor Yaroslavsky is the current Chairman of the First 5 LA Commission and was the leading advocate of this initiative. Family Homelessness is often described as “the hidden homeless”. Yet while homeless families are rarely seen on the streets, there are more 6,000 homeless children throughout Los Angeles County. This number is swelling – in the past two years the number of unsheltered homeless children has doubled.
UBH has brought visibility and proven solutions to the crisis of family homelessness. Since opening their doors in 1997, more than 600 families have graduated from UBH, including over 1,100 children. UBH programs are heavily structured and allow families to quickly stabilize, receive the support and tools necessary to retain their housing and to place families into appropriate, affordable, permanent housing. An astonishing 95% of families remain housed at least one year after graduating from UBH.
For more information about Upward Bound House, please visit: www.upwardboundhouse.org.
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