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Huntington Park hears outreach results as shelters report limited capacity and new pilot aid
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Summary
Inner City Visions told the City Council it placed dozens into housing but warned subsidies are shrinking; Salvation Army's Bell Shelter briefed the council on bed types, capacity and a planned CalAIM pilot to help clients with move-in costs.
Inner City Visons and the Salvation Army told the Huntington Park City Council on June 9 that outreach teams and shelter partners have placed dozens of people into housing this year even as available subsidies and local shelter capacity remain constrained.
Connie Flores, administrator for Inner City Visions, said the outreach contractor recorded 190 new clients in 2024 and 41 new intakes in the first five months of 2025. Flores said the program's records show 89 individuals were successfully housed in 2024, with 53 more housed in 2025 to date. She described the program's approach as focused on trust-building and long-term case management, saying the team prioritizes both immediate needs and pathways to stability.
"Our homeless outreach program is grounded in a commitment to compassion, dignity and long-term impact," Flores told the council. She summarized a placement breakdown the outreach team presented: about 38 percent of cases placed in emergency shelter (including hotels), roughly 15.5 percent in transitional housing, 4.2 percent in rehabilitation programs, and about 42.3 percent achieving permanent housing.
The presentation included four client vignettes used to illustrate different outcomes: a senior reunified with family abroad after transitional placement, a mother and child placed at a family shelter after outreach at the city art walk, a household using a Section 8 voucher to move to nearby affordable housing, and an elderly disabled man placed at a Salvation Army shelter after repeated robberies on the street.
Council members asked detailed follow-up questions about data, service hours and regional coordination. Council members requested a breakdown of case-management hours and the sequence of services used to move clients into permanent housing, and asked whether the outreach provider participates in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). Flores said the organization is working to join HMIS and is implementing a tablet-based case-tracking app to better log time invested in each client.
Salvation Army's Bell Shelter also briefed the council. Paula Del Pozo, director at Bell Shelter, described the facility as a large, multi-program site offering emergency beds, recovery beds, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing. She said the shelter currently operates under several contracts (LAHSA, DMH, veterans programs and city contracts) and reported the facility served several hundred clients in the latest reporting period.
Del Pozo said Bell Shelter can expand but is operating under existing contract rates and limits. She told the council the facility's current operational contract pays roughly $89 per bed per day under the most recent rate, up from a prior $57 rate, and said Bell can accommodate about 100 additional beds on site beyond its current contract. She also described a planned pilot to use CalAIM funds through LA Care that would provide up to $5,000 per client for housing move-in or stabilization supports, calling it a targeted tool to address a major barrier to exits from shelter.
"We have the space to accommodate around 100 more clients," Del Pozo said, and added that Bell Shelter offers on-site clinical services, a dining program (three meals daily), laundry, mobile medical clinics and vocational programming.
Council members and staff pressed both presenters on gaps and local options. Members asked whether Huntington Park should pursue a direct contract with a shelter (rather than participating through a multi-city Bell Gardens contract), and requested city-specific reports separating Huntington Park referrals from the combined contract data. Bell Shelter staff said monthly invoices and intake records can be parsed by referring city and offered to provide a city-specific report.
Members also raised safe-parking and family-friendly shelter needs. Flores and outreach staff said safe-parking sites available in the region are limited; one Volunteer of America program still accepts cars but requires leaving in the morning. Bell Shelter reported it operates separate low-barrier and recovery buildings and that its on-site transitional houses could accommodate some family placements, but the facility's primary shelter beds are configured for single adults.
Multiple council members emphasized the need for better data going into the fall budget process: geographic points of engagement, case-management hours per client, the split between staffing and direct housing costs, and whether Measure A or other city funding should be used for targeted local capacity. Council members asked the city manager to follow up with the outreach contractor and Bell Shelter on demographic breakdowns and on documentation readiness measures that limit placements.
The presentations closed with council direction to obtain more detailed, city-specific reporting and with staff indicating they will return with follow-up material for upcoming budget discussions.
