The Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency Tuesday awarded a $1 million grant to a Palmdale nonprofit to help immigrant families in the Antelope Valley remain housed through rental assistance, legal aid and housing stabilization services.
The funding was presented to SALVA through LACAHSA’s Renter Protection and Homelessness Prevention program, which is aimed at preventing residents from entering the homelessness system, according to the agency.
The grant will support low-income residents in the Palmdale and Victorville areas who are at risk of displacement and may face barriers to accessing traditional services because of language differences, immigration status or distrust of government agencies, officials said.
SALVA works with day laborers, immigrant families and low-income workers throughout the Antelope Valley. Officials said the grant will expand the nonprofit’s existing housing assistance efforts and increase outreach to residents who may otherwise lack access to support services.
“Homelessness prevention works best when it reaches people before they have nowhere to turn,” LACAHSA Second Vice Chair and Bellflower Mayor Pro Tem Victor Sanchez said in a statement. “SALVA has earned the trust of families in the Antelope Valley who have been invisible to the broader system. This investment meets people where they are and that’s exactly what cost-effective prevention looks like.”
SALVA Executive Director Felix Menéndez said the funding will help families facing eviction or housing instability remain in their homes.
“For immigrant families in Palmdale, the difference between being housed and being homeless is often a single month’s rent, a language barrier, or not knowing their rights. We can address all three,” Menéndez said.
LACAHSA cited research from the California State Auditor and the Economic Roundtable indicating that homelessness prevention programs cost significantly less than emergency shelter, health care and long-term homelessness response services.
If they have no where to go they can go back to their home country, how tf dare you use MY MF tax dollars to fund housing to these free loaders who dont belong here over our own citizens and even our own veterans who are also currently homeless or at risk! Not my money! Fk you.