Since it was created, the Homelessness Prevention Unit in the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services has been working to stop and ease the problems of homelessness.
California has a huge rise in the number of homeless people. Last year, there were almost 200,000 homeless people in the state. Since the program started, it has helped more than 800 families and people stay in their homes instead of being kicked out.
Daniel Vanderford, who is the associate head of homelessness prevention at the county’s Department of Health Services, talked about how this program helps people and their families. Vanderford stated that people who are having trouble with being homeless can get help ranging from $4,000 to $8,000. In addition, she says that most of the money comes from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Vanderford said, “We often meet our clients within days of losing their housing or having a medical emergency.” This shows how important the services were. The time of day we meet people seems very important.”
“It feels amazing that we can just show up out of the blue, cold-call someone, give them resources, and stop 86 percent of the people we’ve worked with from losing their housing,” she said.
It took a few years for the California Policy Lab at UCLA to make the AI model. They used data from Los Angeles County’s Chief Information Office. In the long run, the data being collected will help figure out who is most likely to become homeless.
