Session Detail

It is estimated that over half-million people experience homelessness in the US every night. The impact on physical/mental health on individuals and families as well as cost to communities is staggering. There are 60,000 homeless individuals in the County of Los Angeles alone. Individuals are housed every year, but some fall back into homelessness. Homelessness has increased due to the pandemic. The County of Los Angeles embarked on numerous initiatives to combat this problem. One of those initiatives, The Lotus, an interim housing facility, opened its doors in 2020 to 120 homeless individuals. Its goal is to give this most vulnerable population a place of refuge, comfort, and wellness. Two years later, what was the impact of our efforts? In this session, we recap the programmatic and design challenges faced and solutions developed, share lessons learned and present findings of the benefits the program had on the health, wellness and quality of life for our country’s most vulnerable.