LACAHSA AWARDS $1 MILLION TO ANTELOPE VALLEY NONPROFIT TO KEEP LOW INCOME FAMILIES HOUSED

PALMDALE, CA -The Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA) today presented a check for $1 million to SALVA, a Palmdale-based nonprofit serving low income families across the Antelope Valley, to fund rental assistance, housing stabilization, and legal services for low-income residents on the verge of losing their housing.

The grant is funded through LACAHSA's Renter Protection and Homelessness Prevention (RPHP) program. It is designed to intervene before residents enter the crisis system where costs are dramatically higher and outcomes significantly worse.

SALVA works directly with day laborers, immigrant families, and low-income workers across the Palmdale and Victorville areas, communities that face acute housing instability but often lack access to mainstream services due to language barriers, immigration status, or distrust of government systems. The grant will extend SALVA's existing housing assistance program and expand its reach to residents who would otherwise have no safety net.

Research from the California State Auditor and the Economic Roundtable's Where We Sleep study documents that preventing homelessness costs approximately 85% less than responding to it after the fact — a gap

that grows wider when emergency healthcare, shelter systems, and long-term services are factored in.

"Homelessness prevention works best when it reaches people before they have nowhere to turn," said LACAHSA Second Vice Chair and Bellflower Mayor Pro Tem Victor Sanchez. "SALVA has earned the trust of families in the Antelope Valley who have been invisible to the broader system. This investment meets people where they are and that's exactly what cost-effective prevention looks like."

"This grant allows us to stand with our community at the moment they need it most," said SALVA Executive Director, Felix Menéndez. "For immigrant families in Palmdale, the difference between being housed and being homeless is often a single month's rent, a language barrier, or not knowing their rights. We can address all three."

The event was attended by LACAHSA CEO, Ryan Johnson, Palmdale City Manager, Sal Mendez, LACAHSA Board Member and Santa Clarita City Councilmember Jason Gibbs, Palmdale City Councilmember Andrea Alacrón, Lancaster City Councilmember Rocío Castellanos, and Representative Isla Garcia from the office of Assemblymember Juan Carrillo, reflecting broad regional support for the investment.

Photos /videos : Vladimir Gomez