Covenant House of California — Local services in Los Angeles

If you are experiencing homelessness in LA county, find a different shelter.

Worst shelter in LA while also being the most funded, money flows in but never seems to have made it to the residents. They use their Gala(Donor Dinner Event) each year to pull donations from unwitting donors, why are they unwitting you may ask, well the tales those youth are telling up on stage are tall, and in many cases were literally written by the cov staff themselves for those residents to read and make it seem like the cov has helped people, when in reality they just take individuals who are willing to go regardless of said individuals accomplishments or lack thereof.

Food was inedible at times due to in-fighting between kitchen staff that forced out the only quality cook, she was then replaced by people who regularly disregarded food safety standards, and one individual who actually knew what he was doing but was already having problems with the chef before I left. On multiple occasions the salt levels in the food made it unsafe for human consumption, yet still it was served. Luckily I had the ability to make my own meals(when staff was willing to open the kitchen that is) which was the only saving grace due to the before mentioned faults in the cafeteria, this is not the case for all or even most of the residents whom are required to eat in said cafeteria regardless of nutritional quality provided as they have no other options for food.

CEO is a flashy individual who is paid exorbitantly as he is great at pulling in the donations(not a very difficult task though given the area code), but handling abusive staff was never his worry as staff reported by multiple residents for abusing their position were simply moved to the other side of the facility and became staff at the emergency shelter section of the compound. Personally given that they were actively refusing residents lifesaving medications, calling the police would have been the appropriate action but that would hurt their image which is all they got.

Lastly and definitely not least would have to be the joy that it was spending the pandemic at the cov. I spent nearly a month in full Quarantine because residents were allowed to travel out-of-state then return to the facility with little to no enforced restrictions, these individuals tested positive after returning and within two weeks the entire facility was under city mandated Quarantine due to an outbreak. All of which happened after the facility distributed letters to all residents stating if they left the facility and traveled out of state they would no longer be allowed to return to the facility, a letter that had no merit much like the leadership at Covenant House California. These decisions though nonsensical were likely the result of complete and total incompetence of the individual in charge of health related services who was given full comand of the covid response but posses no medical certification as he is a therapist, more specifically the Clinical Director Daniel Ballin was an unacceptable choice even when simply looking at the disarray of his own mental health team, whom regularly fail to make appointments due to emergency cases constantly happening at the facility, mental health emergencies exacerbated by the incompetence of the therapeutic team, though one can't put all the blame on him as again selecting a non-medical individual to make sweeping health decisions is malicious on the part of the board. Luckily the county health officials pretty much took over health related decisions during the Quarantine so atleast for that month we were safe, but when they left things returned to cov control and again health/safety took a back seat.

If you are thinking about going to Covenant House California, please heed my warning and call around, you deserve better. Finally to potential donors, please know the residents are in need but not of your money please only give items, because money will not reach us only items ever make it through. Toiletries, clothes, food, and other goods but no...

This place does not bring equality at all. Somebody who has a background and has done worse than I am, can store food here and do as they please throughout the times of the facility because there in a program called R.O.P,. If somebody is in Safe Haven(Crisis), They can not bring in anything even though they did not make their life miserable with the law. Crisis attendants cannot go and get dressed because if their is no 'staff' on duty they can not. The tricky word is they say staff and their is always staff present but their innerbition to be lazy and not help, makes it that 'staff' is not there. But somebody who is known for shooting or stabbing someone... can. This place has no equality at all and these people dont really want to help you. Everything they do at the Covenant House is something you can do on your own without having their help at all. Its only helpful for living and food at times but regardless they do not want to help anybody who is here because the higher officials look down on you. Every single staff believes that you have a record and that you are here because you broke many laws, but you have not, your just homeless. Parents abandoned you and just because your 18-24, they really dont want to even have you around. Most of the time, staff is on their phone, interacting with the world instead of the human beings that are here. This place brings no equality and your words truly mean nothing to them so i suggest dont come here if you feel the need to speak. They'll just restrict you and then terminate you, just so you can re-do the process and come right back. Somebody here told staff "Im going to start recording MY OWN conversations for MY OWN safety". He came back that night and was restricted from going to his room because he wanted to protect HIS OWN SAFETY. This place looks down on you to hurt you, not build you. Being in this facility will crush your spirits and once you leave, you will not be the same. That cover letter they put up is to make you believe they are really trying to help... in certain area's, yes, but the whole 100, no. Do not come here unless you ABSOLUTELY NEED TO. Other than that, be your own person. Because the Covenant House Staff really does not care if you succeed, just get out of...

2006 I stayed here for a little bit but I got kicked out when they caught me having a weed pipe on me during searching. They welcomed me back after a week but I felt so disrespected that they kicked me out for a week for having a weed pipe I never wanted to go back but they fed you really really good there and they would give people a rooms but in the beginning they would make you sleep on the floor with a bunch of people on like a jail mattress. It was weird because people were in there smoking weed in the actual building itself but then kicking me out because I had a weed pipe on me I didn't know that was like illegal if I would have known I wouldn't have had it on me and got kicked out I wish they would have told me that when I first came in. But I understand they're very overwhelmed with too many people and stuff but I do have a very good memory of them bringing me to a dodgers game they all brought us in a van it took us to a dodgers game and it was funny there was walking through the stadium and I spotted this like 30 gallon see-through bag of butter popcorn near one of the concession stands and I just grabbed it and just walked off with it and all this were eating it at the game. Everybody there was very nice who worked there. They didn't push religion on you or nothing they were just the good counselors there I wish I would have went back. I am going to my friend's place a drop-in shelter near Hollywood not far away and they gave me a free Greyhound bus ticket back to Wisconsin. I first got brought there when I went to a homeless drop in in Venice Beach California and they picked me up brought me there. Then ask for no insurance information or money it was simply just them...