Agency has put focus on homelessness. (Best Companies in the Valley--A Special Report).

THE critical need for affordable housing in Los Angeles is one of the biggest issues in local politics today, but L.A. Family Housing has been working on the problem since 1983.

The North Hollywood agency, which has received the Business Journal's Best Non-Profit honor, has developed several programs over the years that provide temporary and longer-term shelter for homeless people at sites in North Hollywood and Boyle Heights. It also runs 16 apartment complexes throughout the city where former shelter residents and other low-income people live at below-market rents.

But the agency, which serves 14,000 individuals every year in the city, goes beyond treating just the homeless issue or affordable housing problem -- it offers a wide menu of social-service programs that treat the issues that sometimes are the cause of a person becoming homeless. Services such as medical and mental health programs, parenting education and drug and alcohol counseling are offered at LAFH sites.

"When you attempt to eradicate homelessness you need several levels of intervention. They have created a continuum of care," said Robin Connerly, deputy director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the city-county agency that dispenses federal funds to local agencies serving the homeless and evaluates LAFH on an ongoing basis. "Not that many agencies are able to do that."

LAFH was started 20 years ago by a group of inter-faith clergymen in the Valley who believed that homelessness was being overlooked in the area. Up to that time, most programs had targeted the homelessness problem in inner-city L.A.

LAFH had humble beginnings as the group rented 10 rooms in the back of a hotel in a rundown section of North Hollywood to act as a shelter. LAFH eventually took over the hotel and its operations are still centered there.

Because LAFH garners little publicity, many homeless people learn about the agency's wide range of services from other social service organizations.

Getting help

Raquel Cataldo-Warner, who is currently residing at LAFH's transitional living center in North Hollywood with her husband and son, said she heard about the agency from a social service worker after hitting a stretch of trouble in her life that included a stint in prison for credit-card fraud. She is currently working at LAFH's offices as a mentor and apprentice coordinator who helps residents of the agency's facilities develop resumes and get placed in jobs.

Cataldo-Warner said she is not sure what she would have done if she hadn't been referred to LAFH.

"They gave me advice to completely piece my life together," she said. "They have compassionate understanding to treat me as an individual."

Cataldo-Warner said she has taken advantage of virtually all of the agency's programs and classes and can stay at the LAFH transitional living center for up to two years. After that, Cataldo-Warner will be eligible to receive clothing, food and furniture from LAFH for an additional two years.

LAFH also offers a program where clients can eventually buy affordable homes with the help of the agency's subsidies.

LAFH claims that 97 percent of families completing the agency's programs have maintained permanent housing and stable income.

The agency works with a budget of a little under $10. million and in the past few years, LAFH has had to look for places to cut as revenues declined and expenses went up.

Cutting back

David Grunwald, LAFH executive director, said he has had to cut $400,000 out of the agency's budget. Part of this included a management pay cut of 5 percent. Grunwald himself took a 30 percent cut. Some fulltime jobs were converted into part-time positions.

Grunwald said LAFH has also become more aggressive in raising money. About half of the agency's funding comes from government money, 25 percent comes from private dollars and 25 percent comes from real estate development and rent on properties LAFH owns. Grunwald says he hopes to develop the real estate arm of the agency more fully in the future. Real estate income, he says, will help LAFH develop a bigger revenue stream.

Because federal programs are focusing more on long-term housing solutions rather than temporary shelter, LAFH will itself focus on adding more apartment complexes and single-family residences to add to its portfolio, Grunwald said. He has a goal of obtaining 500 more housing units by 2005.

Grunwald believes his agency is effective but could have better in-house training for its staff, which he said does a good job with very limited resources.

"I believe that we serve the community and make a real difference," Grunwald said.

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