Santa Monica Homeless Shelter Receives $5K Grant

A Santa Monica homeless shelter received a $5,000 grant Monday from a Chicago-based apartment listing service for its work. Upward Bound House is one of 16 not-for-profit organizations receiving grants from Apartment.com’s inaugural Help for Homeless Grant Program.

“Having a place to live is a basic human need, and so closely tied to the core nature of our business. That is why throughout the years we have chosen to support organizations that work to help the homeless,” Apartments.com president Dick Burke sated in a press release. “Apartments.com is thrilled to expand our efforts this year by providing grants to 16 organizations that serve a distinct segment of the homeless population through innovative programming and services in local communities.”

Upward Bound House is one of the few programs in the Los Angeles area that accepts dual-parent families with children, homeless families with teenage boys and single-parent families. Most of its clients are single moms with two children.

Since it was founded in 1991, Upward Bound House has helped more than 600 families, including 11,000 children, transition from homelessness into permanent housing. Upward Bound House projects will help an additional 100 families in 2014 and grant funding will help provide families with their own safe, dignified apartment in Culver City and Santa Monica. Each family receives intensive case management, financial literacy and housing placement support.