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By Lookout Staff

September 30, 2011 -- The federal government is giving nearly $1 million to Santa Monica's CLARE Foundation and its partners to help get the Westside's chronically homeless off the streets and into permanent housing.

The $975,000 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration will fund Bridges to Housing, a program partnering Westside agencies which work with individuals who've lived on the streets for five years or longer.

“The Bridges to Housing program is a huge step forward in our attempts to create a ‘no-wrong-door’ approach to providing housing, healthcare, and social services on the west side of Los Angeles,” said Nicholas Vrataric, executive director of the CLARE Foundation.

“By working with our partner agencies, we hope to improve the outlook for the chronically homeless individuals in Los Angeles who have traditionally had the most difficulty accessing these services, despite their undeniable need,” said Vrataric.

The program, which builds on CLARE's five-year Community Bridges initiative, is based on the “housing first” model which provides the chronic homeless with a roof over their heads while making sure they get the kind of treatment they need to deal with kinds of mental health and substance abuse issues that landed them on the streets in the first place.

Ninety individuals will be placed in permanent housing over the course of three years while receiving support from local service agencies, which include the Edelman Mental Health Center, New Directions, St. Joseph Center, Step Up on Second, Venice Community Housing Corporation, and the Venice Family Clinic.

Beyond that, the program is expected to bolster the area's social service infrastructure and play a part in developing Medi-Cal policies that support services for the chronically homeless. CLARE and its partners will work with UCLA’s department of Integrated Substance Abuse Programs to evaluate the success of the Bridges to Housing program.

The program kicks off immediately, on September 30, and funding will be distributed over its duration.

The CLARE Foundation has provided affordable residential and outpatient treatment programs for men and women in Los Angeles County for 40 years.