Welcome to one team! | veterans affairs

There are thousands of HUD-VASH vouchers available for Veterans in neighborhoods throughout greater Los Angeles, and the HUD-VASH team is there to assist Veterans through each step of the

process. There are also hundreds of transitional and emergency shelter beds for Veterans in the community as they work towards permanent housing.  Veterans experiencing homelessness can call

(M-F, 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.) for same-day housing assistance. If a Veteran needs temporary housing shelter outside of normal business hours, they can call Volunteers of America (available

24/7) at .  Click here for a list of additional resources for homeless Veterans. “ONE TEAM MAKES THE CHALLENGING WORK OF ENDING HOMELESSNESS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY A LOT EASIER BECAUSE YOU

ARE WORKING WITH MANY DIFFERENT LEADERS WHO BRING THEIR EXPERTISE AND SKILLS TO THE TABLE,” SAID GILRATH II. “IT LITERALLY IS ONE TEAM: ONE TEAM COMING TOGETHER WEARING MANY DIFFERENT HATS

AND TOOLBELTS. TOGETHER SOLUTIONS ARE CREATED!” WHAT CHANGES HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED WITH ONE TEAM? Many changes to the system have been put in place since One Team launched. In collaboration

with MVA and LAHSA, Bulk Leasing has been introduced as an innovative new tool to move Veterans into housing more quickly by reducing barriers to access. This strategy is designed to secure

a quantity of apartments through a combination of master leasing and Residential and Property Support Services (RPSS). RPSS offers incentives to landlords while master leasing provides the

landlord with guaranteed rents.  Through Bulk Leasing, service providers lease an entire building (or bulk of units) all at once. They are then able to move Veterans in without having to go

through the typical application process, drastically reducing discrimination and other hurdles Veterans often face, and increasing the utilization of housing vouchers. The first building

opened in West Hollywood in June 2024 with 13 units for Veterans. Under RPSS, a second building also opened in Burbank with 38 units, and a third in Hawthorne with 17 units. More are planned

for the coming months.  The team has also reconciled the community By-Name List (BNL), which lists all identified Veterans experiencing homelessness that are currently active within the

Coordinated Entry System (CES). The CES is a Continuum of Care-wide (CoC) effort between VA and its community partners to coordinate and manage resources, so Veterans are connected to

housing and service interventions as rapidly as possible. Now all providers are working from the same accurate data, and 93.2% of Veterans on the BNL have been assigned to a provider to

develop a housing plan. One Team has also expanded the number of staff who can process housing applications, and added five new access points throughout the catchment area where Veterans can

be connected to housing resources. In addition to the West LA VA Welcome Center, Veterans can now walk into locations in South El Monte, Hawthorne, Sherman Oaks, San Pedro, and Palmdale and

receive the same assistance. Staff from One Team partner organizations are also receiving comprehensive training about available resources for Veterans in need. “I AM SO INSPIRED BY THE

WORK OF OUR TEAMS,” SAID HAMMITT. “COLLECTIVELY, WE ARE STRONGER AND TOGETHER, WE WILL END VETERAN HOMELESSNESS IN THE LOS ANGELES CATCHMENT AREA. WE HOLD EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE, ARE

COMMITTED TO OUR PARTNERSHIPS AND RESOURCE SHARING, AND WILL NOT STOP UNTIL EVERY VETERAN HAS A PLACE TO CALL HOME.” WHAT RESULTS HAVE BEEN SEEN WITH ONE TEAM? The 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT)

Count (also known as the homeless count) revealed that Veteran homelessness is down 23% across the Los Angeles CoC and 32% in the city of Los Angeles since 2023. During the PIT Count,

volunteers count all individuals experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. In the city of Los Angeles, 2,696 Veterans were counted in 2023 and 1,834 Veterans were counted in

2024. Across the entire Los Angeles CoC, which includes the whole county except Glendale, Pasadena and Long Beach, 3,878 Veterans were counted in 2023 and 2,991 were counted in 2024.  In

fiscal year 2024, VAGLAHS, with the help of its community partners, permanently housed 1,854 Veterans, the most of any city in America (for the third year in a row) and exceeding VA’s FY

2024 goals for this region by 15%. In addition, referrals to Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) are up 36% since 2023. IS ONE TEAM ONLY IN PLACE IN GREATER LOS ANGELES? While One Team began in

Los Angeles, the initial success of this coordinated approach has led VA to create a national toolkit to recreate unified efforts in service areas across the country. Other communities have

also begun implementing the principles of One Team and seeing success.