Expanding Access to Health Services
For years, we’ve been acutely aware of the gaps between health and homeless services and have been testing solutions. As the pandemic deepened the cracks in our system, the urgency of COVID-19 created an opportunity to fast-track innovation and collaboration in the health space. We’ve brought together stakeholders—from homeless service providers to hospital systems and funders—to coordinate efforts and investment and ensure better outcomes for people experiencing homelessness. Home For Good continues to engage our partners to identify future opportunities for aligned funding and advocacy opportunities to increase cross-system coordination and improvement.
While hospitalized, people experiencing homelessness may become disconnected from the homeless services system and lose meaningful progress made towards being matched to housing. We are funding three patient navigator positions to help hospitals facilitate links to housing for patients with the most complex needs. This pilot models a systematic and scalable approach to patient navigation that will improve continuity of tracking and care across hospital sites and creates a position with access to client information within both health and homeless service systems, allowing for a true cross-system connection and strengthened care and resource coordination.
This effort is made possible through the generous support of UniHealth and The Well Being Trust and the partnership of LAHSA, Union Station Homeless Services, Healthcare Consortium of Greater San Gabriel Valley, Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park, Methodist Hospital, Emanate Health, Huntington Hospital, and Pomona Valley Hospital.
Sparked by a $500,000 investment from Cedars-Sinai, the Health Pathways Expansion grants accomplish two goals: They fund direct care in a way that reaches people experiencing homelessness, and they begin to solve the problem of providing long-term quality medical care and ongoing support to people experiencing homelessness.
The effort has grown into a nearly $3 million partnership led by California Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles, with investment support from Cedars-Sinai, L.A. Care Health Plan, Providence, and UniHealth Foundation.