LA nonprofit provides life-changing services to young people experiencing homelessness

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Homelessness in Los Angeles is a vast problem, not just in numbers, but in terms of the many different challenges that need to be addressed.

One local nonprofit is focused on a very specific area: young men and women at risk.

"In Los Angeles there are 70,000 plus adults experiencing homelessness, but there's only 3,000 youth experiencing homelessness on any given night, which to us feels like there's gotta be a way to reach 3,000 people," Safe Place For Youth CEO Erika Hartman said.

A Safe Place for Youth is a nonprofit providing care and support specifically to young people in West L.A. experiencing homelessness. But it's more than a building. The nonprofit's SPY Squad seeks out anyone between 18-24 who needs shelter or help finding available resources.

"Everybody has a different story, everybody has a different background. Everybody has different traumas, so we need to work with the youth where they're at," outreach team leader Martin Pimentel said. "If you are running from (domestic violence) or you're trying to run from gangs, let's work in those two places."

Building a trusting relationship is key to helping anyone living on the streets. The goal of the outreach team is to connect youth to the drop-in center, the heart and hub of Safe Place for Youth. That's where they provide basic needs, information on available housing or even campus peer navigators to help college students who are housing insecure. But more than anything, it's a safe place to rest and reset.

"There's an atmosphere of safety at this access center... knowing that there's professionals here that are always looking out for you and have your back and also places to relax," said Daniel Recillas, who has needed help from Safe Place for Youth in the past. "When you walk through the doors there's definitely a sense of safety."

Hartman adds: "We really try to walk through life with young people wherever their starting point is. We know a lot of young folks come out of the child welfare system and don't have a loving caring adult in their life, and that's kind of the role our staff fill. We create that community, those social connections so that they feel like they have a place they belong and a safe place to come back to."

A Safe Place for Youth can provide shelter to 132 young people on a given night, but Pimentel says the outreach team aims to do more than put a roof over someone's head.

"She may not come back at all," he said. "She may not wanna come by, but me or my team constantly going to see her is probably going to build that rapport to where eventually she'll say, 'OK, I'll receive services. Maybe I won't go down to your access center to meet with a case manager, but can I work with you here in the field.'"