It has been a hopeful and transformative year at the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles. And although much of our hard work lies ahead, we are pleased to report some significant progress as we work together to support Mayor Bass’ vision for our city.

On the very first day Mayor Bass took office, she declared homelessness an emergency in Los Angeles and called on all of us to lock arms and help confront this crisis. The Mayor’s homelessness strategy has three prongs: 1) a city-wide effort to quickly house Angelenos living in encampments on the street, through initiatives like Inside Safe; 2) unprecedented investment in more interim and permanent housing capacity; and 3) an unparalleled effort to connect with Angelenos at risk of losing their housing and prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.

With Mayor Bass’ bold leadership as our guide, the Mayor’s Fund has reorganized, refocused our resources, and committed ourselves to supporting the third prong of the Mayor’s visionary strategy — homelessness prevention. 

We couldn’t be taking on this work at a more critical moment. Because as homeless count numbers continue to rise, it’s clearer than ever that to end this crisis, we must find a way to stem the devastating tide of evictions that is overwhelming our communities. 

That’s why the Mayor’s Fund has raised and invested millions of dollars — with millions more to come — in a groundbreaking homelessness prevention initiative. We are LA is a community-wide effort that brings together resources from across the city to reach hundreds of thousands of Angelenos at risk of losing their homes. We support them with individual case workers who can help protect them from eviction and connect them with other critical resources, like food stamps and healthcare. The program began just a few months ago, and we have already reached 15,528 people with critical support. 

We know that programs like We Are LA are not nearly enough to solve this problem on their own. But this initiative is creating a promising model that can identify and help people urgently with the resources they need to stay housed. It’s a program we hope to build on and scale so that we can make an even bigger impact in the future. 

We Are LA is the first of what we know will be a variety of critical homelessness prevention programming in support of Mayor Bass’ vision, and its success this year shows just how much we can accomplish together if we remain committed and focused. 

Now is the time to keep pushing. We are deeply grateful for your support over the last year and look forward to continuing our critical work together in the coming months. And of course, we welcome any questions or feedback you may have on the enclosed report. 

Sincerely,

Homelessness is a dire emergency in Los Angeles, which is why we are acting with urgency to not only bring unhoused Angelenos inside, but also help prevent Angelenos from falling into homelessness in the first place. The challenge before us is vast, and to overcome it, we must bring everyone together to confront this crisis.

The Mayor’s Fund is working to focus our city’s energy, innovative spirit and resources on homelessness prevention. It’s a unique organization with the power to bring the private and philanthropic sectors together to help tackle this critical problem with everything we have.

The programs this organization is leading demonstrate the kind of dedication and collaboration we need to make real progress on this issue. That’s why I’m so encouraged to have the Mayor’s Fund working on this important piece of our comprehensive approach to ending this crisis.

Your support is critical as we continue to tackle this emergency. I’m deeply grateful for your commitment and look forward to continuing the work ahead.

Sincerely,

Mayor Karen Bass