FAQs

The mission of the Los Angeles House of Ruth (LAHR) is to provide temporary housing for homeless and battered women and their children, and at times, intact families or single fathers. We strive to empower our clients to move from dependency and abuse to independence and successful futures.

No. The only requirement to enter our program is homelessness and all our services are provided completely free of charge.

LAHR was founded in 1978 to serve homeless women and children, the majority of whom are victims of domestic violence. Since then, we have grown from a four-bed transitional shelter into four separate shelters with 80 beds, serving more than 180 women and children each year. Recently, Bridge funding has allowed us to extend our service to families with both mother and father, as well as single fathers with children.

Our primary goal is to always provide an effective transitional shelter program that enables our women to overcome barriers to self-sufficiency within two-years. Aside from that, our three main goals are (1) to provide homeless families with children a safe and secure transitional shelter that promotes their physical and emotional well-being, (2) to help our residents find stable employment and increase their income, and (3) to assist in placing our residents in permanent, long-term housing.

The greatest thing in the world is when we watch a family who has come to us broken and beaten, physically and emotionally, come out on the other side of our program with renewed hope, skills, courage and a place to live. This transformation is the reason we work with and on behalf of our clients.

In 40 years of service, we have provided shelter to more than 5,000 women and children, achieved a 90% annual success rate placing families into permanent housing, and a 95% rate keeping them there long-term. We verify this success by keeping in touch with the families after they have moved on from our shelter.

We serve both populations, in separate shelters. Many women leave their abuser when they realize their children are also in danger, essentially choosing homelessness over abuse. Eighty percent of our families became homeless while fleeing from domestic violence. LAHR provides these brave women and their children with a safe and secure place to heal. Our Domestic Violence clients live in a separate shelter from the homeless only shelter. This ensures a sense of safety for our domestic violence families.

We are always there for our clients, even after they move out on their own. Our services continue with our After Care Program, which provides follow-up services and case management to ensure our clients transition into a stable and secure life. We maintain monthly contact for however long is needed. Through our After Care Program, we continue to assist the family to resolve any unmet goals and continue to provide any needed support.

LAHR serves pregnant women, single mothers with children, mothers and fathers who have no recent employment history, and mothers and fathers who are not eligible for emergency human services. Our clients also include women who have been employed and have left their employment to escape abuse, and women who have suffered from medical or other emergencies and lost their housing because they didn’t have the funds to cover these emergencies.

One hundred percent of our service population lives below the federal poverty level. Homelessness is the only requirement to enter our program. Our clients do not have the ability to pay. After our clients find employment, they are encouraged to participate in our savings program so that they have funds available when they move into permanent housing.

The average age of the adults we serve is 26 years old and the average number of children in the families is 2.5. Although the only criteria we require of families in order to attain our services is that they currently are homeless, the vast majority of the women aided have been victims of domestic and/or sexual violence.

Our residents come to us from Los Angeles County’s most vulnerable population; homeless parents and their children. They are found residing in emergency shelters, living on the street, in parks, encampments, or other public places. A woman escaping violence will travel to be safe and then find herself without the support needed. This is when we come in. Several of our clients are from cities other than Los Angeles, and sometimes out of state. Many of our domestic violence families have come to us through 30-day domestic violence shelters and are ready to move forward but are still homeless.

97% of our clients are women of color. Approximately 76% of those served each year are Latino, 21% are African-American, and 3% are Caucasian.

LAHR operates 4 houses located at a confidential location near downtown Los Angeles, each with private living quarters and full kitchens.

LAHR employs 18 full-time and 5 part-time individuals who provide 24-hour services to our families. Our staff includes Licensed Clinical Social Workers, childcare staff, experienced and trained Case Managers, and night & weekend staff.