Veronica Lewis, Master of Public of Administration is a recognized leader in Los Angeles County in the Homeless Services, Substance Use Support and Reentry sectors and is the Director of the Homeless Outreach Program/Integrated Care System Division of Special Service for Groups (SSG/HOPICS) where she oversees more than 110 million dollars in annual funding for multi-service programs including: mental health, substance use disorder treatment, reentry support, homeless services, permanent housing programs and sites, and trauma-focused services.  HOPICS has permanently housed thousands of households under her leadership.

Under her leadership as Director since January 2011, HOPICS’ annual budget has increased by 2100 percent and the workforce tenfold  in 13 years. Veronica has worked tirelessly as an advocate to improve and coordinate homeless services in LA County- in particular the Service Planning Area Sixth Region (SPA 6) which is made up of South LA and the Cities of Compton, Lynwood and Paramount.  Veronica is the founder of the thriving SPA 6 Homeless Coalition. She has played an integral role in the development of the ever-expanding LA Continuum homeless systems of care as the lead for SPA 6’s Coordinated Entry System for homeless individuals and families. In 2014 Veronica led and developed the one-of-a kind SPA 6 Family Crisis Housing Network that formed in response to the changing system of care for homeless families in LA County. The Network consists of a blend of homeless and housing providers that provide short to medium term crisis and bridge housing for families working toward permanent housing through the local Family Solutions Center- and still keeps 300 families with children off of the street every night in interim housing present day.  Due to her leadership and advocacy HOPICS opened the first publicly funded interim housing location for transgender women and non-binary individuals in Los Angeles.   Under her leadership, HOPICS has permanently housed more than 6000 homeless families within the last decades.  Veronica has represented the interest of SPA 6 and the LA Continuum of Care (CoC) as member and Chair of the CoC Board and Coordinating Council.  Veronica is also a Los Angeles County Public Social Services Commissioner appointed by LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn.

She has worked diligently to secure housing resources and build the capacity of small homeless and reentry agencies in South LA and the Cities of Compton and Lynwood.  In her daily work Veronica has and continues to advocate for racial equity and honest dialogue about ways to improve the overwhelming number of health, economic, carceral and housing disparities for black people and other people of color in LA County.  She deeply understands the intersection of race, homelessness, behavioral health and the criminal justice systems. She was a member of the Los Angeles Ad Hoc Committee on Black People experiencing Homelessness (BPEH) and delegation of members responsible for finalizing the report and recommendations and currently serves on the Implementation Steering Committee for BPEH which is responsible for implementation oversight of the recommendations.  Veronica is also a member of the Homelessness Policy Research Institute (HPRI) Racial Equity Steering Committee.

Veronica served as the Chair for two years of the Los Angeles Care First and Community Investment or CFCI (formerly Measure J) Advisory Committee and led the process of developing a recommended transformative spending plan that resulted in LA County funding $287 Million for the first two inaugural years (FY 22-23) of investment into alternatives to incarceration and addressing racial inequities. CFCI funds diversion and reentry services, de-carceration of LA County jails, primary health, behavioral health, housing, economic development, and youth support. She is a member of the Steering Committee for the Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership (LARRP).

In addition to her contribution to local Los Angeles City and County homeless/housing, reentry and SUD systems, programs and policies, Veronica also lends her expertise to help shape policies, best practices and projects at the state and national level through her participation as a Councilmember on the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH) appointed by Speaker Anthony Rendon; member of the Collaborative Justice Courts Advisory Committee for California Courts Judicial Council (CJCAC) and Chair of CJCAC’s Racial Equity and Inclusion Workgroup;  National Alliance to End Homelessness- Capacity Building Network; National Research Council- Transportation Research Board for the Airport Cooperative Research Program Project 03-59 Panel to help develop best practices nationwide to address homelessness at airports; and was a member of the California Department of Health Care Services Proposition 64 Advisory Group where she helped shape program design and utilization of more than 60 million for the Youth Education Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment Account (YEPEITA).