The Homelessness Crisis in Los Angeles, California

Goal Statement: The goal of my social change portfolio is to implement intervention and prevention strategies that lead us one step closer toward eradicating the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. Significant Findings: Los Angeles is the home of one of the largest unhoused populations in the United States. The leading causes to becoming homeless include lack of affordable housing, unemployment, pathological illnesses, and necessary resource impediments (National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, 2015). This social change portfolio discusses the risk and protective factors of the unhoused on a range of levels viewed in the lens of a social-ecological model. Unhoused women are a sub-identity group within this marginalized population that require distinct interventions to enhance proficient support for their unique challenges faced as female homeless individuals. This portfolio also explains the barriers and advocacy strategies on an institutional, community, and public policy level for this target population. Objectives/Strategies/Interventions/Next Steps: The homelessness crisis in Los Angeles is a severe public health issue that is deeply rooted by barriers on a systemic level. Discrimination and oppression on an interpersonal level also hinders unhoused individuals receiving necessary resources, let alone discouraging the extent to self advocate as a person in need. It is detrimental to implement an integrated approach viewing the outcome of homelessness as multifaceted. Housing First is a program that coincides to an informed capabilities approach toward eradicating homelessness. Reparations within academic services for displaced youth can act as a vehicle to combat homelessness in adulthood. Feasible access to mental health resources and career counseling services are steps toward mitigating unemployment rates within the homeless population and supplement housing stability