Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement (HOME) Program

HOME Team member connecting client to Project Roomkey
The Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement (HOME) program provides field-based outreach, engagement, support, and treatment to individuals with severe and persistent mental illness who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness.  Services are provided by addressing basic needs; conducting clinical assessments; providing street psychiatry; and providing linkage to appropriate services (including mental health services substance abuse treatment and shelter).

HOME serves individuals 18 and over who are experiencing chronic unsheltered homelessness and who have profound mental health needs and associated impairments.  These vulnerable and disengaged individuals struggle with securing appropriate food, clothing, and shelter due to their mental illness.  In addition, they may have critical deficits in hygiene and communication, and are generally highly avoidant of services.  They are unable to live safely in the community and require specialized mental health services to secure and sustain housing.

Most referrals are submitted by generalist homeless outreach providers who identify individuals with severe impairment that require specialized and intensive support and engagement.

The general public may initiate a referral to a homeless outreach team through the Los Angeles Homeless Outreach Portal at www.LA-HOP.org. Individuals will be triaged to a HOME team if the person meets the criteria.

Homeless outreach providers should complete HOME Referral Form and email it to HOME@dmh.lacounty.gov

  • HOME Flyer
  • Program Highlight
  • Press coverage about HOME
    • The New York Times “The crisis of homelessness is pushing American psychiatry to places it has not gone before — like sidewalk injections of antipsychotics.”
    • Los Angeles Times “L.A.’s first street psychiatrist makes his sidewalk rounds, transforming homeless lives”
    • CBS “Pioneering L.A. program seeks to find and help homeless people with mental illness”
    • KCRW-FM “‘Street psychiatrists’ help unhoused Angelenos access mental health care”
    • KPCC-FM “How LA’s ‘Street Psychiatry’ Program Works To Treat People Who Are Unhoused”