Housing

Supportive Housing

We offer immediate housing linked to wraparound health and social services to homeless individuals living with severe mental illness. Most of the people we serve face additional challenges such as drug/alcohol addiction, physical disabilities, HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases, and a history of incarceration. The centerpiece of our work, supportive housing, is recognized as the best strategy for permanently ending homelessness among people with severe disabilities.

Our supportive housing is:

• Immediate – There are no pre-conditions such as sobriety, lack of income, or participation in treatment. This allows us to house the most vulnerable – those who have been shut out of other programs and left to fend for themselves on the streets.
• Permanent – There are no time limitations.
• Affordable – Tenants contribute up to 30% of their income or benefits. A new tenant’s contribution toward rent typically ranges from $0 - $260 a month.
• Service-Rich – Comprehensive services ranging from medication management to household budgeting are offered right there where people live and in the local community.
• Customer-Driven – All services are voluntary and tailored to the needs of each tenant.

Lamp was the first agency in Los Angeles to provide permanent supportive housing and remains one of only a few agencies that house and serve the chronically homeless – people with severe disabilities who have been on the streets, cycling through institutions, shelters, and jails for years.

Private Apartments + Services

Lamp Community offers furnished studio apartments downtown and in other neighborhoods in Los Angeles. New tenants sign a standard lease and have the rights and responsibilities of any renter. Buildings meet high quality and safety standards and integrate seamlessly into neighborhoods. Many of the units are in buildings owned and operated by Lamp Community or by partner affordable housing developers. These apartment complexes are developed for homeless people with disabilities and designed to accommodate on-site services, giving tenants access to a therapist, a nurse, and a psychiatrist right there where they live. Our service team also includes advocates who work closely with tenants to help them achieve their goals such as obtaining disability benefits and health insurance, enrolling in school, re-uniting with family, overcoming legal barriers, and even cooking and decorating their new apartment.

We also lease affordable units in complexes owned and operated by private landlords. This scattered site model uses existing housing to quickly move people from streets to homes. It gives tenants greater choice in neighborhood and allows them to live among individuals and families from all walks of life while receiving rental subsidies and home and community based services. Due to a scarcity of permanent rental subsidies, we also identify and help people move into affordable unsubsidized apartments and offer ongoing services.

Lamp Community is one of the only local agencies to finance the security deposit and first month’s rent for people moving into apartments owned by partner agencies and private landlords. We provide this critical stipend to ensure that chronically homeless people are not turned away due to lack of move-in costs.

Community Residences

Based in the Skid Row Community, The Village and The Frank Rice Safe Haven offer semi-private accommodations in a community setting. Unlike shelters and transitional housing, people can live at these locations short-term or permanently. With one staff person to every 9 residents, people have access to an unprecedented scope of individualized services under one roof.

Models of Sustainability in Permanent Supportive Housing

The Skid Row Collaborative and The San West Health & Housing Collaborative are multi-agency projects that seek to create financially sustainable models by integrating on-site primary care and behavioral health services in permanent supportive housing.

Services

Safe Haven Day Center

A Safe Haven is an innovative model that provides supportive housing for the hardest-to-reach homeless adults living with serious psychiatric illnesses. Lamp’s Safe Haven, the only one in the City of Los Angeles, includes a day center serving more than 150 people each day. In a low-demand environment, we offer high staff support to engage and house people who have been rejected by mainstream providers due to behaviors, addictions, and severity of mental illness.

Supported & Independent Employment

Many of Lamp’s clients and tenants, also known as members, begin their journey back into the workforce as part or full-time employees, paid interns, or volunteers at Lamp Community. Our supported employment program provides on-the-job training, coaching, and workshops to help people strengthen professional skills, form new relationships, and establish a recent work history. Members work as peer advocates, receptionists, cooks, drivers, and data entry associates. Additionally, our two businesses, the Public Laundromat and Showers/Locker Rooms, are exclusively staffed by tenants and homeless people living with a severe mental illness. Lamp also offers extensive, individualized services for those seeking independent employment, education and volunteer positions throughout Los Angeles.

Wellness Center

This newly established Center offers mental and physical health care, medication management, counseling, harm reduction, recovery groups, nutrition, and alternative treatments for homeless and formerly homeless Downtown residents.

Skid Row Savings

We offer personal banking services to hundreds of Skid Row residents, both housed and homeless, who have chosen to deposit their government disability checks and other income with Lamp. Our personal bankers help individuals to maintain household budgets, pay bills, live on a limited income, and save.

Art Studio & Gallery

Our professional art studio provides individual workspace and instruction in painting, photography, and other mediums. Artist’s work has been featured in film and television, and exhibited at galleries, corporations, and public spaces.