One of our great agencies in Los Angeles. That deserves even more of the limelight that MHAC gets. Without MHAC so many more people with significant mental health issues would be out on the street. In Housing Authority dominated buildings? The rule of thumb is that a lower income apt. manager/maintenance crew? Are also left to freely dictate to people with Housing Choice Vouchers. Are left to be the actual Police Force in their own buildings. In that Housing Authority-tenants are so easily discredited/maligned. HACLA, so many other great agencies are SO under-staffed they just dont have the money/work force to address this issue. Hundreds of cases-like-these are going-on country-wide, i.e. tenants being muscled by lower-income managers/janitorial staffs. Maybe even 100 at any time across the great State of CA. HUD needs to free up some more money so that the HACLAs can address this issue in Housing Authority-dominated buildings. The lower income Staff are ons-site due to their OWN poverty, need for housing. They are independent contractors for real estate firms. Who dont follow-up on these these people, dont give them any HR-training. Dont give these people benefits, i.e. a more attractive salary package. Its more like half off of their rent plus a 250.00 stipend. Only poor people can afford to take these on-site positions. So its a case of poor people dictating to poor people. LAPD alone gets dozens of calls per week from Housing Authority buildings, and are loathe to even respond. Since at the point of complaint its a CIVIL issue. Even Adult Protective Services give only Lip Service to tenants being endangered/frightened by thugs posing as responsible on-site staff. Real estate firms rarely check their people out - so grateful are they to get ANYONE to take an on-site position. One thing Ive called for is Resident Advisory Boards in every building - so as to level-out the power/voice. Itd go a long way towards addressing this awful issue. Thanks to MHAC for being one of the few Law Firms that care - would love to lead or participate in MHAC funding. In the last few years alone MHAC has saved two dozen people from homelessness, which to me is heroism. -jk

This agency help me advocate for my 13 year old daughter who has mental health problems. Her school was refusing to give her services even though she had severe emotional, mental and academic needs. The advocate we had was very knowledgeable and supportive. That is the only way my daughter was able to obtain an IEP and get the services that she needed.

If your loved one is detained on a 5152 14-day hold, you are entitled to a probable cause hearing that has to, by law, happen within 4 days of the 14-day hold. This agency is at least a week out to get even a call back...so not much help in that case. Look elsewhere.

We are a family dealing with an emotionally disturbed teenager and are desperate for answers. We contacted them and they were a great help for us. They were able to address the questions and to provide us with the right info we are needing right now.