LOS ANGELES, CA – Four formerly homeless Los Angeles residents say a job-training nonprofit helped them leave the streets, as the Nov. 3 mayoral election puts the city’s record on homelessness before voters.
The four, who shared their stories Oct. 10, are Michael Mata, 43; Marshall May, 58; Elyse Moya, 41; and Nicole Bastiany, 52. Each got off the streets through Chrysalis, a Los Angeles nonprofit that helps people find work and rebuild their lives, and each now works there.
Mayor Karen Bass faces Councilmember Nithya Raman in the general election, and each says she can do better than her opponent on homelessness. The accounts arrive about three weeks before the vote.
Mata supervises a six-person road crew that works with Caltrans in the Glendale area, picking up litter along roads and highways. For the past several months he has lived in his own studio apartment in Skid Row, which costs $520 a month.
Mata’s path from shelter to road crew supervisor
About two years ago, Mata boarded a bus at 5 a.m. near the shelter where he was living, on the northern edge of South Los Angeles. A shelter mate had told him to arrive early at Chrysalis because a line forms and only so many people can be taken in each day.
Mata was first in line at 5:30 a.m. He took two of the four required orientation classes that day and the other two two days later.
He had been through years of sporadic homelessness, time in prison, a stretch living in an RV and a string of jobs that did not pay enough to get him out. He said he applied everywhere, including fast-food restaurants, and that his daughter was part of what motivated him.
Mata chose the roads division because he wanted the exercise. He connected quickly with his supervisor, was promoted to team leader and was later promoted to supervisor.
Mata said it seems to him that some homeless people are offered housing without the income to keep it. His own apartment has no kitchen, but it is his.
Three other former clients now work at Chrysalis
May, 58, battled crack addiction for decades and served time in prison before joining a 12-step program in 2016. He has been sober for 10 years and now supervises Chrysalis’ Safekeeping facility, which stores the belongings of homeless people.
Moya, 41, ran away from home at 14 and was homeless when she had her daughter. She completed seven months of residential drug rehabilitation and is now a Chrysalis case manager in Santa Clarita. She owns an apartment.
Bastiany, 52, started at Chrysalis in April 2024 as a client services coordinator. She is now an employment specialist.
What the program offers
Chrysalis connects clients with social services and teaches them how to write a resume, search online job listings and handle an interview. The nonprofit has six locations and is on track to have 2,200 clients find jobs this year in fields such as security and hospitality.
About 600 clients work for Chrysalis itself in one of four divisions, including street cleanups. Chief Executive Mark Loranger said people join the program voluntarily after having been in and out of systems that offered help without lasting results.
Clean California funds litter-removal jobs
Caltrans’ Clean California program has paid for litter-removal work that employs formerly homeless people. In a February announcement, Caltrans said it awarded $25 million to 90 local projects through the program’s Community Cleanup and Employment Pathway grants. Since its July 2021 launch, the program has reported 3.5 million cubic yards of litter removed and 18,267 jobs created, including for formerly incarcerated people and people experiencing housing insecurity.
Caltrans District 7, which covers Los Angeles and Ventura counties, takes part in the effort with $418 million for litter abatement over three years, according to its Clean California page. The district estimates the program will create 10,000 to 11,000 jobs over those three years, including for people experiencing homelessness.
The program was set to wind down after three years, according to initial reports. Those reports said Chrysalis had hired 15 crews for Clean California litter abatement, four had been shut down and three more were expected to close, which would leave about 90 people without work. They put the pay at $18 an hour and said statewide crews were to be cut from 100 to 48.
County and city counts show increases
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority published the 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count data on July 24. It found 73,040 people homeless in Los Angeles County, up 1.2% from 72,195 the year before, and 45,194 in the city of Los Angeles, up 3.4%. In the city, unsheltered homelessness rose 7.9%.
The Los Angeles County Homeless Services and Housing agency said in a statement on the count that homelessness increased by 1.2% overall and that unsheltered homelessness rose 3.3% countywide. The county attributed the rise to a significant decline in state and federal funding. It said a pause in new Time-Limited Subsidy enrollments meant 5,100 fewer people were housed in 2025.
The county also pointed to declines in some areas: a 37% drop in unsheltered homelessness in the Antelope Valley, a 12% overall drop in the South Bay and a 21% reduction in RVs. It said that between July 2025 and March 2026 it moved more than 4,000 people into permanent housing and nearly 5,000 into interim housing.
Bass cites funding cuts and Inside Safe
Bass said in a statement on the count that “for two years straight, we drove down homelessness by historic margins — but as expected, last year our efforts ultimately couldn’t keep up with policies and funding cuts at the federal and state levels that pushed more people onto the streets.” She said cuts to the state’s HHAP grant program severely hurt efforts to keep people housed.
The mayor said the city has reduced homelessness by 11% since 2023, moved 6,000 people off the streets through Inside Safe and housed more than 1,000 homeless veterans.
The mayor’s office said in an announcement this month that Inside Safe completed its 143rd and 144th operations the week of Oct. 1, housing 91 people and removing 6 RVs. Sixty-four people were brought inside near Beverly Boulevard and Madison Avenue in Rampart Village. In Pacoima, 27 people were brought inside near Louvre Street and Ralston Avenue, along with 6 RVs. The office said the program has brought more than 6,200 people inside in total.
At a Sept. 29 mayoral forum at A Place Called Home in South Los Angeles, Bass called the current regional homelessness system dysfunctional and called for a new system under city control.
Raman says the mayor’s approach falls short
Raman said in a Council District 4 release that this year’s numbers were disappointing but not surprising, and that the mayor’s approach is not working well enough.
According to LAHSA data cited in the release, unsheltered homelessness in Council District 4 fell 49% between 2025 and 2026, and dwellings such as cars, vans, RVs, tents and makeshift shelters fell 41%. Raman said her office takes an aggressive, interventionist approach built on hands-on engagement, case management and matching people to services.
At the same Sept. 29 forum, Raman said she supports leaving LAHSA and creating a city homelessness bureau. She pledged a comprehensive audit on her first day as mayor.
LAHSA steps back from federal roles
LAHSA’s governing commission voted Sept. 15 not to continue its federal administrative roles, including the point-in-time count and the homeless management information system. In a statement after the vote, the agency said competing against the city and county would only fracture regional collaboration during an already complex time.
The Los Angeles Housing Department says its Homelessness Oversight Bureau is the city’s central entity for coordinating and overseeing the homelessness system, including street strategies, interim housing and permanent housing.
Voters decide Nov. 3
A debate between Bass and Raman is set for Oct. 13 at 7 p.m., according to initial reports. The general election is Nov. 3.
Mata, May, Moya and Bastiany now work at Chrysalis, and Mata continues to supervise his road crew in the Glendale area.
