Los Angeles Will End Veteran Homelessness By End Of Year

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, national and local government officials, non-profit and philanthropic organizations and the local business community have come together to pledge to end veteran homelessness in Los Angeles County by the end of 2015. At a press conference hosted by Home For Good, an initiative by United Way of Greater Los Angeles and The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce to end veteran homelessness in 2015 and chronic homelessness in 2016, the joint task force unveiled a detailed Action Plan to meet its collective goals.

Since its launch in 2010, Home For Good partners throughout the region have housed over 12,000 veterans, with a current rate of 438 veterans housed each month. To achieve the goal of eradicating veteran homelessness by the end of the calendar year, the community must house 538 veterans per month.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; County Supervisors Sheila Kuehl, Mark Ridley Thomas and Hilda Solis; and leaders in the non-profit, philanthropic, and business sectors were in attendance to publicly renew their commitment to the goals set forth by Home For Good, including ending veteran homelessness by the end of 2015, chronic homelessness by the end of 2016, and ultimately all homelessness in the region. Secretary of U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs, Robert McDonald, was the keynote speaker at the event, which took place at The Rosslyn Hotel, a SRO Housing Corporation, a permanent supportive housing facility for formerly homeless veterans.

"If we end veteran homelessness in L.A. County and across the country, imagine what else we can do," said Robert McDonald, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs.

"We need to welcome home our veterans with much more than a smile and a hug, but with a life," said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

There are 39,500 homeless men and women in Los Angeles County, of which 4,618 are homeless veterans. To bring about solutions to end veteran and chronic homelessness, the Home For Good Action Plan zeroes in on four core drivers to end veteran and chronic homelessness: sufficient resources, efficient service delivery, excellence in quality and strong public and political will.

"Every region in Los Angeles County is impacted by veteran homelessness, and it will require a strong and collective effort to eradicate the issue and house our homeless veterans still living on the streets," said Elise Buik, President and CEO, United Way of Greater Los Angeles. "We are grateful to receive renewed support today from our federal partners, local officials, non-profit organizations and the business community, and believe this cross collaboration is what is required for us to be successful. I'm confident that with this group effort, renewed focus and expansion of the proven Coordinated Entry System, we will eradicate veteran homelessness in Los Angeles County in 2015."

The Home For Good initiative, now in its fifth year of implementation, is the blueprint developed by the Business Leaders Task Force on Homelessness to end chronic and veteran homelessness in the L.A. region. Home For Good is a joint initiative of the Greater Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and United Way L.A., and a collective and countywide effort of over 200 cross-sector organizations. For more information on Home For Good's action plan, visit: http://www.unitedwayla.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2015-Home-For-Good-Action-Plan.pdf

For more information on Home For Good visit: http://homeforgoodla.org/

About United Way of Greater Los Angeles
United Way of Greater Los Angeles is a nonprofit organization that creates pathways out of poverty by helping homeless people move into housing, providing students with the support they need to graduate high school prepared for college and the workforce, and helping hard-working families become financially stable. United Way identifies the root causes of poverty and works strategically to solve them by building alliances across all sectors, funding targeted programs and advocating for change. For more information, visit www.unitedwayla.org.

SOURCE United Way of Greater Los Angeles