Shelter is the basic need of every person, yet quite often, people face difficulty with finding a place to live due to high costs on the market. As a result, there is a substantial demand among citizens for affordable housing, which would allow them to have proper living conditions without spending thousands of dollars. In the United States, the issue of affordable housing is addressed by different housing authorities, including SAHA, LACDA, and LAHSA.
Santa Ana Housing Authority (SAHA) offers a considerable selection of services which can facilitate the acquisition of affordable housing for people. For instance, SAHA has several major programs for vulnerable populations, such as Veterans Affairs supportive housing, which provides veterans with rental assistance (“Learn about,” n.d.). The authority also offers the Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) program providing rental assistance to adults not older than 24 years who left foster care. Additionally, Sana Ana residents can access Emergency Housing Vouchers intended for individuals and families experiencing homelessness which cover moving expenses, security deposits, application fees, and utility deposits (“Learn about,” n.d.). Thus, Santa Ana Housing Authority has a solid set of practices which are targeted at the provision of affordable housing to locals. The practices of SAHA resonate with my experiences during my internship because, at HACLA, I also assisted vulnerable populations in receiving affordable housing opportunities. For instance, I helped low-income individuals with AIDS to obtain housing assistance to address their needs.
The Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) is another major organization tasked with the provision of affordable housing to people. For instance, the LACDA offers secondary mortgage financing for first-time homebuyers as part of the Home Ownership Program (“About affordable,” n.d.). Such a program enables people who buy a house for the first to use funds allocated by the county to make their purchase more affordable. Additionally, the LACDA assists in the development of over affordable housing for people who have mental disabilities. Specifically, the LACDA offers assistance to non-profit developers which are interested in building transitional and supportive housing (“About affordable,” n.d.). During my internship at HACLA, I had similar experiences when interacting with the Development Services Department, which was responsible for real estate development and financing activities. Essentially, the LACDA and HACLA have similar practices concerning the development of new affordable housing for different residents.
Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) is an agency which focuses on the assistance for homeless people living in the City of Los Angeles. One of the key tools of LAHSA is the Los Angeles County Coordinated Entry System (CES) (“LA county,” n.d.). The system constitutes a network which brings all homeless services in Los Angeles County together. The ultimate goal of the system is to ensure that all of the available resources are efficiently and equitably distributed to support those who are homeless and require affordable housing. For instance, the system allows LAHSA to quickly identify shelters where homeless people can spend their time and receive appropriate care. At HACLA, I also worked on programs targeted toward homeless people, and the universal system provided by LAHSA could make the assistance process easier.
Affordable housing is important for people who do not have enough funds to rent a property. As a result, organizations such as SAHA, LACDA, LAHSA, as well as HACLA help individuals to receive assistance with finding housing. All of the agencies employ their approaches to overcome the problem of the lack of affordable housing. Therefore, it is important to analyze the unique experience of each agency and to find the ultimate solution to the common problems.
References
About affordable housing. (n.d.). The Los Angeles County Development Authority.
LA county coordinated entry system. (n.d.). Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
Learn about our section 8 rental programs. (n.d.). The city of Santa Ana.