{"id":80184,"date":"2026-04-22T00:51:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=80184"},"modified":"2026-04-22T00:51:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:51:56","slug":"how-an-la-homelessness-frontline-veteran-is-caring-for-the-caretakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=80184","title":{"rendered":"How an LA Homelessness Frontline Veteran Is Caring for the Caretakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_65 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_65\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span><a class=\"tdb-author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/author\/selen-ozturk\/\">Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_66 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_66\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><i class=\"tdb-date-icon tdc-font-fa tdc-font-fa-calendar\"><\/i><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-04-17T10:15:46-07:00\">Apr 17, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_68 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_68\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"wpb_video_wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget2\" class=\"td-youtube-player\" title=\"Celina Alvarez, 2026 Leadership Award Recipient\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fUJenZZEPZE?enablejsapi=1&amp;feature=oembed&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;vq=hd720&amp;&amp;&amp;\" width=\"100%\" height=\"560\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-18=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_69 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_69\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><em>Above: California faces one of the largest homelessness crises in the country. Frontline workers are often underpaid and overburdened. With decades of experience on the front lines herself, Celina Alvarez is tackling this problem head-on.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For two decades, the motto of Housing Works of California was, \u201cDo whatever it takes for as long as it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What it took for Celina Alvarez when she joined\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.housingworksca.org\/\">this Los Angeles nonprofit<\/a>\u00a0in 2008 was shoveling out a hoarder\u2019s apartment as roaches fell from the ceiling or bringing bed bugs home on twelve-hour days with no additional pay.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez is part of a team that was entirely devoted to Mollie Lowery, the activist who founded Housing Works and coined its phrase. When Lowery died in 2015, Alvarez inherited the reins, moving directly from frontline worker to executive director without ever having held a supervisorial role.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/maxresdefault-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-47087 td-animation-stack-type0-2\" src=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/maxresdefault-1-1024x576.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/maxresdefault-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/maxresdefault-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/maxresdefault-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/maxresdefault-1-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/maxresdefault-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/maxresdefault-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/maxresdefault-1.jpg 1280w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Celina Alvarez, executive director of Housing Works of California and winner of a 2026 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. (Courtesy of The James Irvine Foundation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Her first step: revisit the organization\u2019s motto.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause we were growing at that point, I couldn\u2019t ask the staff to do the same things that Mollie would ask us to do and that we\u2019d say yes to,\u201d said Alvarez. \u201cJust because I said yes to cleaning an apartment where I needed a shovel and had roaches fall in my hair doesn\u2019t mean that was okay. I will not jeopardize my staff\u2019s own safety and make them sacrifice their health at the cost of what someone else needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With this worker-centered model, Alvarez has grown Housing Works across 11 sites in LA serving more than 1,400 people annually \u2014 with a 97% housing retention rate for a population that includes people with severe mental illness, physical disabilities and decades on the street.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lahsa.org\/news?article=1044-declining-homelessness-is-now-a-trend-in-los-angeles-county\">Last year<\/a>\u00a0there were 72,308 unhoused people in LA County, including 43,699 in the city of LA \u2014 4% less in the county and 3.4% less in the city than the prior year.<\/p>\n<p>For her work, Alvarez is one of six recipients of this year\u2019s James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, which involves a $350,000 grant.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez, 50, grew up in far west Texas \u2014 \u201cNo Country for Old Men territory,\u201d she said \u2014 and moved to LA in 1993, right after high school. She landed at an HIV\/AIDS clinic near Skid Row during the peak of the epidemic, drawn somewhat by necessity: There was \u201ceasy access to employment for someone coming from Texas with only a lifeguarding background.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alvarez_housing.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-47089 td-animation-stack-type0-2\" src=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alvarez_housing-1024x576.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alvarez_housing-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alvarez_housing-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alvarez_housing-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alvarez_housing-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alvarez_housing-150x84.png 150w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alvarez_housing-696x392.png 696w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alvarez_housing-1068x601.png 1068w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alvarez_housing.png 1920w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mollie Lowery, left, with Celina Alvarez, right, in November 2011 at the United Way HomeWalk in Downtown Los Angeles. (Courtesy of The James Irvine Foundation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>By 1999, she was working on Skid Row under Lowery\u2019s mentorship at LAMP Community, the nonprofit housing center the activist co-founded, now called The People Concern.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore trauma-informed work even became a thing, it was really about unconditional, positive regard,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cIt\u2019s considered radical in this sector that\u2019s very heavy on bureaucratic processes and systems, when you do things outside of the box, but when I think about human engagement in its truest form, it really isn\u2019t radical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lowery\u2019s team of eight workers, hand-picked and most without college degrees, became nicknamed across the sector as \u201cMollie\u2019s Maids\u201d for doing the work no one else would touch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFive of us took bedbugs home once, because we were helping people prep their units for bedbug treatment, and we were doing it without much protective gear or guidance around guardrails. It was like, well, this person\u2019s going to lose their housing, and someone\u2019s got to help them, and they don\u2019t have anyone to help them, and so I guess that\u2019s us,\u201d said Alvarez.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, Lowery recruited Alvarez to Housing Works, where the same ethos reigned. When Lowery died, other organizations that had long relied on Housing Works\u2019 unconditional \u201cYes\u201d started calling Alvarez\u2019s board to complain when she said \u201cNo.\u201d Her response was direct: \u201cI\u2019m not going to have my staff work 10- and 12-hour days, for something that\u2019s a biohazard to their health, and you\u2019re not even paying us for this service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This staff-centric shift has collided with the funding structures usual in her sector.<\/p>\n<p>Most of Housing Works\u2019 provisions run through case management contracts paid per person monthly, which Alvarez described as loaded with paperwork and performance indicators that crowd out the messier, daily human-relational work driving her model.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn our dream world, we would be given a bulk of funds to do the work that we know how to do, without being constricted and restricted by all the funding channels and contract deliverables that keep us suffocated under the paperwork,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe haven\u2019t gotten there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/homeless-caretakers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-47090 td-animation-stack-type0-2\" src=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/homeless-caretakers-1024x576.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/homeless-caretakers-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/homeless-caretakers-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/homeless-caretakers-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/homeless-caretakers-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/homeless-caretakers-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/homeless-caretakers-696x392.jpg 696w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/homeless-caretakers-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/homeless-caretakers.jpg 1920w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Celina Alvarez, right, meditates during a worker wellness session with Housing Works staff. (Courtesy of The James Irvine Foundation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The model\u2019s 97% retention rate suggests it\u2019s working anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez, who still carries a small caseload herself while leading the organization, attributes this success to a holistic approach that Lowery pioneered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf someone is going to lose their housing, it\u2019s not a linear problem. It\u2019s a whole\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/housing\/houston-built-a-blueprint-to-reduce-homelessness-staying-housed-is-the-ongoing-challenge\/\">all-hands-on-deck approach<\/a>,\u201d she explained. \u201cWhen someone is on the verge of being evicted, we look at it holistically with the property management, with the developer, so that we can understand: Are we at a juncture where this person actually needs to go, or are they at a point where we could use this crisis that\u2019s jeopardizing their housing as an opportunity to have a conversation with the person about the behavior that\u2019s jeopardizing their housing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez was in criminal court recently, advocating for a 60-year-old woman \u2014 one of Pasadena\u2019s longest-unhoused residents, now housed for two years \u2014 facing two years of federal prison over 70 counts of stealing Tide Pods and alcohol from Target.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause she\u2019s been so entrenched in alcoholism, it\u2019s hard to get her to understand that her housing could be in jeopardy,\u201d she explained. \u201cI\u2019m advocating for her to do a diversion program, including a six-to-nine-month dual diagnosis inpatient program. But we\u2019re still looking at how we can help her relinquish the unit on good standing with the housing authority, for when she\u2019s ready to go back into housing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Alvarez has also helped build a more structural solution to the workforce gap: California\u2019s first accredited certificate program in homeless services, launched at Santa Monica College in August 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The nine-month curriculum owes to years of conversation between Alvarez and Vanessa Rios, then the senior workforce advisor at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, about the generational knowledge gap of a new workforce coming into the field without the mentorship that helped workers like Alvarez.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez, who teaches during the spring semester \u201cabout the art of human engagement and what it takes to do the work on the ground,\u201d works with two other instructors, each of whom worked under Lowery and have at least three decades in the field.<\/p>\n<p>Three more LA community colleges are now exploring launching this curriculum.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez said the Irvine grant, which kicks in this July, will fund professional development, the Housing Works\u2019 new five-year strategic plan and a \u201cwellness effort\u201d she launched last March: through June, all 77 of her staff have access to acupuncture, massage, chair yoga, music therapy, tapping, emotional release work and sound baths.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost frontline workers have never experienced anything like this, and they are blown away,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re learning how to regulate their nervous systems and learn how to keep well in this work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The grant has already done something Alvarez didn\u2019t expect: \u201cAll the things we were stressed about before \u2014 no one\u2019s talking about workforce development, no one cares \u2014 all of a sudden, it\u2019s front and center across the state \u2026 So many philanthropy folks have reached out, seeking time to meet with me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf our workers are not well,\u201d she added, \u201cthe communities they serve will not be well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>More information about the James Irvine Awards is available\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/irvineawards.org\/\"><em>here<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This year\u2019s other five grantees are Chris Chatmon of Kingmakers of Oakland; Lian Cheun of Khmer Girls in Action; Darla M. Cooper of the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges; Adrianne Hillman and Erin Garner-Ford of Salt + Light; and Virgil Moorehead and Amy Mathieson of Two Feathers Native American Family Services.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BySelen Ozturk Apr 17, 2026 Above:&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80185,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80184\/revisions\/80185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}