Yesterday was a promising start to the new year as we saw the grand opening of 88th and Vermont, a 62-unit project of supportive and affordable housing, with a youth and family support center, is one of many that will open this year under the Proposition HHH housing bond. These homes, being developed throughout the city, will change the lives of thousands of our homeless men, women, children and veterans who are suffering on any given night on our streets. Lives like the Ayala family, who after years of couch surfing and sleeping in their car, now have a safe place to call home for their five children.
“This is just the beginning,” said Elise Buik, President and CEO, United Way of Greater Los Angeles, “Proposition HHH and Measure H is our down payment towards ending homelessness and we have a lot more work to do.”
United Way is committed to ending and preventing homelessness for our most vulnerable neighbors. We know that we need to protect people in their homes, so they can remain stable, and we’ve seen Sacramento step in to help do just that. We know we need to preserve the affordable housing that we have and we need to produce more supportive and affordable housing to meet the needs of our homeless neighbors.
The solutions are real, and as we saw from yesterday, so is the impact. But we must continue to stay united in our efforts across all sectors. The goal of 10,000 units in the city of LA may seem insurmountable at times, but United Way will continue to work with a diverse coalition of leaders here and in Sacramento to identify a sustainable path forward to create tens of thousands of supportive and affordable homes throughout our region.
Since passing Prop HHH and Measure H, over 8,000 units of affordable and supportive housing has been built and more housing has been place into the construction pipeline in the last three years than in the previous thirty. But while we celebrate these accomplishments and champion the grand openings, so much more housing is needed.
Join us as we work together to bring our neighbors in.
