Case manager: $500,000 participatory‑budgeting grant to Downtown Women Center will fund meals, showers and housing support

A Downtown Women Center case manager told the Los Angeles City Council on June 26 that a newly announced $500,000 participatory‑budgeting allocation will expand outreach and basic services for women experiencing homelessness.

"It'll help me reach the ladies I need to reach," the case manager said, describing outreach, hygiene support, job coaching and help toward permanent housing for women on the street. The witness said the center also provides therapy and one‑on‑one housing advocacy and called homelessness a systems problem driven by a shortage of affordable housing, inadequate wages and high disability levels.

Council staff framed the award as part of LA Repair, a participatory‑budgeting effort described during the meeting as an $8.5 million initiative directed to nine of the city’s most impacted neighborhoods, where residents voted on how to spend the funds.

Speakers repeatedly emphasized the role of the Downtown Women Center in combining direct services with systems‑level advocacy, and a presenter cited an estimate that roughly 75,000 people are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles to underline scale and urgency. The grant was presented as supporting both immediate needs (meals, showers, hygiene items) and longer‑term efforts to get people into permanent housing and employment.

City communications encouraged visitors to see related programs and cultural events at City Hall; the Council also highlighted complementary senior and community programs announced earlier in the meeting.

Next steps: the grant awards are programmatic allocations announced at the meeting; departments and nonprofit partners will coordinate on implementation and outreach.