The Community Development Commission and the Housing Authority of the county of Los Angeles were recognized with seven Awards of Merit and from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment officials at its summer conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The following projects from the CDC and HACoLA were awarded:

Comprehensive Health Services at the Star Apartments – Star Apartments provides supportive housing for homeless individuals, including 77 units for people living with mental illness, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, or co-occurring disorders.

TGE-ERC Revitalizes Carmelitos Public Housing – The Growing Experience Environmental Resource Center (TGE-ERC) maximizes the use of formerly blighted urban land to serve as a replicable model of environmental sustainability and food production for low-income communities.

Enhanced Client Services Through Survey Research – Through the use of research surveys, the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program worked to solicit feedback from current and past FSS participants in order to improve support services.

Ending Jurisdictional Boundaries for Veterans – Complicated jurisdictional boundaries present a challenge to homeless veterans seeking subsidized housing. As a solution, HACoLA entered inter-jurisdictional agreements with eight other cities within the County, allowing veterans to have more housing options.

DSC_0577Strategies Lead to 100% VASH – Eliminating administrative barriers, HACoLA reached 100% voucher utilization for its Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) Program within six months and provided housing to over 1,700 formerly homeless veterans and their families.

Landlord Incentive Program to End Veteran Homeless – The Landlord Veteran Incentive Program encourages landlords to rent units to the homeless veteran population.

Plight to End Homelessness in Los Angeles County – HACoLA designed and implemented the Homeless Incentive Program to encourage landlords to rent units to homeless families.

Sean Rogan, Executive Director of the CDC and HACoLA, stated, “We are honored to be recognized by NAHRO this year. These awards are a testament to the hard work and dedication from each staff member working to Build Better Lives and Better Neighborhoods every day.”

The NAHRO Agency Awards Program was created to give national recognition to the achievement and innovation of NAHRO agency/organizational members throughout the country; to provide additional opportunities to inform the public of the best in housing and community development; and to create a resource bank of information on significant, innovative activities performed by housing and redevelopment agencies and community development departments. Since 1989, NAHRO has honored more than 6,000 programs.