The Solid Ground homelessness prevention pilot was started in 2018, with a goal of serving families in Van Nuys, California (zip code 91405) who may be at risk of homelessness but who do not qualify for the homelessness prevention services provided by the Los Angeles County homelessness services sector.1 The pilot is administered by New Economics for Women (NEW), a nonprofit that administers a FamilySource Center. FamilySource Centers are located in high-need areas and are designed to assist low to moderate-income families with a continuum of services, including financial counseling and referrals to community resources. While Solid Ground was originally conceived as a twoyear pilot, it was extended and NEW continues to operate it. The Solid Ground Program, which was previously administered by the Housing Department, now falls under the purview of The Community Investment for Families Department (CIFD) and since 2021, they have created seven additional Solid Ground homelessness prevention programs at FamilySource Centers throughout Los Angeles.

Year Three of the Solid Ground pilot program began on October 1, 2020 and ended on September 30, 2021. The goal of CPL’s Year Three report is to document:

● program activities during Year Three of the Solid Ground pilot,

● participant demographics, household composition, and prior homelessness services enrollments as observed in the Homelessness Management Information System data (HMIS) of the 71 Brief Solid Ground and 34 Full Solid Ground participants who enrolled during Year Three,

● financial assistance, other assistance, and services that Year Three Brief and Full Solid Ground enrollees received, and

● income, employment, and living situation for enrollees at enrollment for both Brief and Full Solid Ground participants and for the 34 Full Solid Ground participants, at exit.

This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278

The Solid Ground homelessness prevention pilot was started in 2018, with a goal of serving families in Van Nuys, California (zip code 91405) who may be at risk of homelessness but who do not qualify for the homelessness prevention services provided by the Los Angeles County homelessness services sector.1 The pilot is administered by New Economics for Women (NEW), a nonprofit that administers a FamilySource Center. FamilySource Centers are located in high-need areas and are designed to assist low to moderate-income families with a continuum of services, including financial counseling and referrals to community resources. While Solid Ground was originally conceived as a two-year pilot, it was extended and NEW continues to operate it. The Solid Ground program was previously administered by the Housing Department and now falls under the purview of the Community Investment for Families Department (CIFD). Since 2021, CIFD has created seven additional Solid Ground homelessness prevention programs at FamilySource Centers throughout Los Angeles. This brief summarizes the key findings from three process evaluations the California Policy Lab conducted of Solid Ground over three years. Each in-depth evaluation is also available on the California Policy Lab website. Solid Ground offers two programs: “Full Solid Ground” and “Brief Solid Ground.” To qualify for Full Solid Ground, a family must be imminently at-risk of becoming homeless and score a 16 or more on the Prevention Targeting Tool (PTT). To qualify for Brief Solid Ground, a family must score 16 or more on the PTT or be imminently at risk of homelessness.

This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278

The Solid Ground homelessness prevention pilot was started in 2018, with a goal of serving families in Van Nuys, California (zip code 91405) who may be at risk of homelessness but who do not qualify for the homelessness prevention services provided by the Los Angeles County homelessness services sector.1 The pilot is administered by New Economics for Women (NEW), a nonprofit that administers a FamilySource Center. FamilySource Centers are located in high-need areas and are designed to assist low to moderate-income families with a continuum of services, including financial counseling and referrals to community resources. While Solid Ground was originally conceived as a twoyear pilot, it was extended and NEW continues to operate it. The Solid Ground Program, which was previously administered by the Housing Department, now falls under the purview of The Community Investment for Families Department (CIFD) and since 2021, they have created seven additional Solid Ground homelessness prevention programs at FamilySource Centers throughout Los Angeles.

Year Three of the Solid Ground pilot program began on October 1, 2020 and ended on September 30, 2021. The goal of CPL’s Year Three report is to document:

● program activities during Year Three of the Solid Ground pilot,

● participant demographics, household composition, and prior homelessness services enrollments as observed in the Homelessness Management Information System data (HMIS) of the 71 Brief Solid Ground and 34 Full Solid Ground participants who enrolled during Year Three,

● financial assistance, other assistance, and services that Year Three Brief and Full Solid Ground enrollees received, and

● income, employment, and living situation for enrollees at enrollment for both Brief and Full Solid Ground participants and for the 34 Full Solid Ground participants, at exit.

This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278

Solid Ground is a two-year homelessness prevention pilot administered by New Economics for Women (NEW) that aims to serve families in the 91405 zip code (Van Nuys, California) whose less severe housing issues make them ineligible for traditional prevention services. A family may be eligible for Brief Solid Ground or Full Solid Ground, depending on the family’s score on the Prevention Targeting Tool. Brief Solid Ground consists of one day of services that may include: brief case management services; mediation and/or landlord dispute resolution services; referrals to mainstream benefits and/or other community resources; referral and linkage to legal services; and limited financial assistance (transportation and grocery cards). Full Solid Ground includes six months of all of the services available to Brief Solid Ground participants, in addition to direct financial assistance such as rental assistance (though not all Full Solid Ground participants receive financial assistance). This is the Year Two Interim Report for Solid Ground. The first year of the Solid Ground pilot program began on September 1, 2018 and ended on September 30, 2019 (“Year One”). The second year of the Solid Ground pilot program began on October 1, 2019 and ended on September 30, 2020 (“Year Two”). In Year One, Solid Ground met its goal of enrolling 30 Full and 50 Brief participant households. In Year Two, program staff also aimed to enroll 30 Full and 50 Brief participants, but because of barriers to outreach, intake, and eligibility raised by the pandemic, staff were only able to enroll 14 Full participants and 66 Brief participants.

This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278

In Los Angeles County, Black people represent 9% of the general population yet comprise 40% of the homeless population. In its 2018 groundbreaking report, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Ad Hoc Committee on Black People with Lived Experience of Homelessness concluded that homelessness is a by-product of racism in the United States. The Committee also found racial inequities in outcomes for Black residents of homeless services, particularly Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH).

This report, in partnership with LAHSA and community-based service providers, further examines why there are racial inequities in returns to homelessness or interim housing for Black PSH residents. To estimate the racial inequity in returns to homelessness, we used administrative data from the Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS). To identify potential factors that contribute to Black residents falling out of PSH and returning to homelessness, we conducted interviews and focus groups with PSH program managers, case managers, and Black residents.

This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278.

In Los Angeles, 45,021 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness received street outreach services between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020. Supporting and housing unsheltered residents is an urgent priority in Los Angeles, and it is imperative to better understand the challenges that individuals are facing. Questions persist about the size and unique needs of the group of individuals who are unsheltered and diagnosed with a serious mental illness (SMI). This is because unsheltered individuals experiencing serious mental illness, and particularly those individuals with a diagnosis of a psychotic spectrum disorder (“PSD”), may experience symptoms that could cause or contribute to losing housing and that could lengthen the duration of homelessness. This group often needs intensive, specialized, and coordinated care in order to exit homelessness. To better understand the prevalence of psychotic spectrum disorders (“PSD”) among those who are unsheltered, the California Policy Lab (CPL) linked homeless outreach service records found in the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s (LAHSA) Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to service records at the LA County Department of Mental Health (DMH) and the LA County Department of Health Services (DHS). We used the linked data to estimate the number of people who are enrolled in a street outreach program and who had a service visit for serious mental illness (“SMI”) in the five years prior to their street outreach enrollment. We then stratified this group into two distinct groups: those with service visits with a diagnosis of PSD and those with service visits with a diagnosis of a serious mental illness without psychotic symptoms (“Other SMI”). We analyzed these data to show how many people in these groups were enrolled in interim or permanent housing within one year of their enrollment in street outreach services, and we break down interim and permanent housing enrollments by race and ethnicity. Our analysis also shows how many street outreach participants did not have service records for PSD or Other SMI within the five years prior to enrolling in street outreach.

This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278.

On any given night, nearly 60,000 people experience homelessness in Los Angeles County, and an estimated 141,000 are homeless in any given year. In response to this growing crisis, voters in Los Angeles County passed Measure H, agreeing to increase their taxes to add an estimated $355 million in homeless services each year. As reported in the 2018–19 Measure H 15-Month Report Card, tens of thousands of people were housed and/or linked to intensive services as a result. Yet, the homeless population continues to grow as inflow outpaces exits to permanent housing. In 2019, despite the fact that thousands of people were served by Measure H services, the homeless population in Los Angeles County (as measured by the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count) grew by 12%. To help reduce inflows and to reach people before they become homeless, the Board of Supervisors approved Measure H spending plans for Fiscal Years 2017–18 and 2018–19 that included $5.5 million and $17 million, respectively, for prevention strategies. These strategies included short-term financial assistance, case management, and legal services.

This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grant MRP-19-600774.