HACLA Partners to Help House Emancipated Foster Youth 

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) provided Project Based Section 8 vouchers for all 48 affordable units at Rayen Apartments. Tenants will pay up to 30 percent of their incomes toward rent with the balance of rent paid through this subsidy.

Brandee Berry, 23, spent most of her life in foster care.  She struggled to pay the $600 rent on her apartment after leaving foster care transitional housing two years ago.  Thanks to the rental subsidy, Berry now pays $145 a month for her studio.

“"I’m very thankful, I’ve come from a long life of struggling… without you, I wouldn’t be standing here today, I don’t know where I’d be, I really don’t," said Berry.

Berry currently attends Los Angeles Valley College and plans to transfer to Cal-State Northridge to study sociology.

“I want to be a social worker, I wanna give back, it’s the best thing I could do for so many people that’ve helped me.”