GiveBetter x Los Angeles

Human Options

Survivor housing, counseling, legal advocacy and violence prevention

Research time: ~9 min on GPT-6 Astra Light + ~10 min on GPT-6.1 Sol
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.
  • Modeling — estimated costs, QALYs and uncertainty.
  • Source audit — checked claims, assumptions and calculations.

Updated: 2026-10-05

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Summary

What do they do? Human Options provides emergency shelter, housing support, counseling and legal advocacy for people affected by relationship violence in Orange County. Community centers, English/Spanish empowerment groups and care navigation help survivors seek safety and rebuild practical stability. Its service model combines immediate crisis response with longer-term support to help survivors rebuild their lives.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • Shelter and housing navigation provide a concrete route away from unsafe conditions.

  • Counseling and legal advocacy address both emotional recovery and practical barriers to stability.

  • External randomized advocacy evidence supports plausible finite health mechanisms, alongside verified operating scale and original finances.

Our main reservations:

  • Reported support and safe-haven totals do not establish distinct adult completions or causal housing retention.

  • Clinical transfer, utility, ordinary-gift responsiveness and household resource incidence remain judgment-led.

  • Relocation, retaliation, foregone resources and external payer costs could offset gains; current unrestricted donor bottlenecks are unverified.

What do you get for your dollar? $7.5M per DALY in Los Angeles. DALY is our one-year comparison unit. QALY-based health gains and income-welfare equivalents retain their original assumptions; they are not measured clinical DALYs. Conditional counseling/safety and signed household-resource component; broader portfolio and full social counterparty incidence unknown..

Central modeled counseling 600 eligible/intensity-equivalent adults, 300 funding-responsive, 25.5 external-equivalent depression-threshold improvements. Residential 249 adult equivalents and 8.0925 external-equivalent avoided-repeat-violence outcomes. Separate resource cohorts 300 community households,124.5 residential households with62.25 joint. Not observed completed treatment, stable housing or causal recovery.

1. What do they do?

Human Options (EIN 95-3667817) operates residential and community services in Orange County. The current services page describes shelter, counseling, legal advocacy, personal empowerment, care management and prevention. Its family resource centers serve several Orange County communities. CalOptima enrollment is required for its enhanced care management pathway; this is not a general insurance-free clinical program.

The FY 2025 annual report reports 1,200 individuals receiving broadly described healing support and 498 survivors and families finding safe haven. Those are scale anchors, not verified treatment completions. They are not simply added: the model discounts eligibility and repeated or overlapping beneficiaries.

2. Monitoring and information sharing

The annual report's 90% safe-housing-at-exit claim has no public comparison group or long-term retention denominator. Hotline calls, knowledge gains and referrals are not separately credited as health. The current homepage's 2025 hotline total differs from the fiscal-year report, so neither is used as a unique-client denominator.

For a donor-sensitive evaluation, request distinct clients by age, program and residence; completed counseling intensity; safety and stable housing after exit; validated symptom and utility outcomes; and adverse events. Follow everyone offered services, including those who leave early, and compare against available public and nonprofit alternatives. Track the actual staff, rent assistance or other bottleneck that ordinary funds can change. Current operations

3. Qualitative assessment

The PATH randomized trial tested specialist psychological sessions added to ordinary domestic-violence advocacy. At twelve months, 29% versus 46% exceeded the depression threshold, but only 64% were followed up. There was no demonstrated reduction in further abuse or improvement in physical health. This supports a mental-health mechanism, not a claim that Human Options implements the same intervention or achieves its result.

The post-shelter advocacy trial found 24% versus 11% free from further physical violence over two years. It involved intensive ten-week advocacy for adult women after shelter; transferring this result to mixed residential records requires a substantial adjustment. The Domestic Violence Housing First study also found better housing and mental-health outcomes, but was observational despite weighting and adjustment. Its scale scores are not QALYs and are not added as another benefit.

The current PEP description is a ten-week psychoeducational group, not proof of PATH-style psychological treatment. Counseling, housing and advocacy may overlap in the same person's recovery; the model explicitly reduces double counting. Safety, dignity and legal rights have value beyond the priced health component. PATH reported serious adverse events among 22 women (15 intervention, seven control), with association unclear for three women/four events. That imbalance is not converted into a causal harm rate; a separate hypothetical adverse case preserves potential harm without inventing an empirical bound. Only positive clinical contributions receive the overlap adjustment; negative health effects remain full.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

The original FY2025 return confirms full-recipient gross accrual expense of $7,595,219: Part IX $7,312,028 plus separately netted event costs $283,191. FY2024 gross expense is $8,075,513 and FY2023 $7,094,996; mean $7,588,576. No netted rental, gaming or inventory cost addback was found. These are annual operating costs across programs and overhead, not a restricted counseling price or verified marginal service queue. The annual report uses $7,306,512 expenses and $7,001,134 revenue with a restricted-revenue release explanation; those differently presented totals do not replace the original full expense denominator. Audit reconciliation and unrecognized volunteer/provider time remain unknown.

Clinical benefit is unchanged from the initial conditional estimate: 1.7010274295 LA QALYs. Signed household resources subtract 0.6934827280 welfare equivalents, leaving 1.01 combined equivalents and about $7.5M per DALY, versus $4.5M health-only. This increase comes from explicit resource judgments, not an observed negative Human Options effect or complete portfolio ranking. At $10,000 conditional linear funding share, the model gives 0.00 clinical QALYs and -0.00091305 signed income equivalents.

Clinical counseling uses 1,200 broad support records × 0.5 distinct eligible/intensity equivalents × 0.5 effect transfer × 0.5 funding response × 0.17 external depression-threshold difference × 0.15 judged utility × 0.5 year, discounted one year. Residential safety uses 498 mixed survivor/family records × 0.5 adult equivalents × 0.5 transfer × 0.5 funding response × 0.13 external two-year risk difference × 0.1 utility × 0.5 year, discounted two years. A positive-only 0.8 overlap adjustment and 0.95 LA/Orange residence share follow. Finite endpoint benefits are not annual episodes, permanent remission, mortality or extra survivor wages.

The separate resource ledger assumes 300 additional adult community-service households (1,200 × 0.5 resource adult/unique share × 0.5 capacity) and 124.5 residential households (498 × 0.5 household share × 0.5 capacity). These shares are independent of clinical efficacy; costs persist if clinical transfer or utility is zero. One survivor participant per distinct household and one welfare person are modeled; children and other household-member welfare remain unpriced. Half the residential households overlap community care: 62.25 joint, 237.75 community-only and 62.25 residential-only. No separate log gains are added for the same household.

Each community household incurs a judged $100 net time, travel, childcare or care-engagement burden. Each residential household has a conditional $1,200 annual net housing/food consumption relief hypothesis, not an observed grant, rent saving or wage. Tax/benefit withdrawal, displaced alternative aid and private spending offsets are already net within that hypothesis; only its positive portion is discounted 50% for overlapping safety/health value. The full $600 moving, disrupted work and other out-of-pocket burden remains: central residential net is zero, joint net −$100, community-only −$100. A $20,000 annual disposable-household baseline and one resource year after a one-year delay at 3% are material priors, not measured incomes. No retail shelter service value is added on top of health without the overlap adjustment.

Positive-resource stresses raise the net relief hypothesis to $3,000 before positive overlap; adverse stresses remove relief and raise displacement/moving costs to $2,000. Negative relief receives no overlap discount. The positive case is paired with a $500 per unique service-household institutional opportunity-cost hypothesis allocated across 100 distinct payer persons at $50,000 baseline; this matched case retains a positive net income-equivalent component. Another pairs positive relief with $100 net landlord margin per residential household across twenty separate one-person owner households at $60,000 baseline. Counterparty margins are net of their costs, not gross rent receipts; losses are included in a symmetric negative case. These are fiscal/provider incidence hypotheses, not donor utility or observed subsidy assignments. Actual partner-care, landlord, public-payer and nonlocal incidence remain unknown; neutral central anchors are not factual zeros. The conditional headline is partial household/health welfare, not complete social EV.

Clinical-null and financial-only preserve all resource costs; complete/income unknown remains null rather than zero. Zero expansion gives no new services, resources or health. Clinical harm stress is hypothetical and not inferred from the trial's adverse-event imbalance. Two-year resource stress assumes recurrent annual exposure, not a verified lasting resource effect.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

Full-recipient gross annual accrual costs; conditional annual service expansion/continuity share, not a verified restricted or marginal budget. External complementary and social counterparty costs only stress-tested, not comprehensively measured.

LA MSA consists of Los Angeles and Orange counties. Current direct services focus on Orange County. g = 0.95 is an explicit judgment for residence during benefit, allowing some survivors to move beyond the boundary; it is not measured and ranges from 0.85 to 1 in stress scenarios. Headquarters location alone does not establish allocation.

QT=Np*dp*rp*b*ep*up*Tp/(1+d)^counselingDelay; QS=Ns*ds*rs*b*es*us*Ts/(1+d)^safetyDelay. H(x)=k*max(x,0)+min(x,0); QLA=g*[H(QT)+H(QS)−full hypothetical harm]. Separate capacity-based resource cohorts net joint same-HH resources BEFORE log; signed income=.5*persons*discounted finite years*log(1+net/baseline)*g. Price10=10*C/(QLA+income).

C
7595219 USD annual recipient gross expense (observed). Original financial/report field; scale records are not completed causal outcomes. [ho-99025]
Np
1200 reported mixed annual support records (observed). Original financial/report field; scale records are not completed causal outcomes. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
dp
0.5 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
rp
0.5 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
b
0.5 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
ep
0.17 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (observed). External randomized threshold/cumulative-risk reference, not Human Options efficacy or measured QALY. [path]
up
0.15 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
Tp
0.5 years (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
Ns
498 reported mixed annual support records (observed). Original financial/report field; scale records are not completed causal outcomes. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
ds
0.5 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
rs
0.5 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
es
0.13 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (observed). External randomized threshold/cumulative-risk reference, not Human Options efficacy or measured QALY. [cap99]
us
0.1 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
Ts
0.5 years (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
k
0.8 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
g
0.95 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
discount
0.03 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
counselingDelay
1 years (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
safetyDelay
2 years (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
communityAdultUnique
0.5 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
residentialHouseholdShare
0.5 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
resourceOverlap
0.5 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
communityCost
100 USD household resources/cost, annual flow or specified one-year counterparty incidence (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
housingResourceGain
1200 USD household resources/cost, annual flow or specified one-year counterparty incidence (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
positiveOverlap
0.5 fraction, effect, clinical utility or discount rate; explicit formula and rendered ledger (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
housingCost
600 USD household resources/cost, annual flow or specified one-year counterparty incidence (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
baseline
20000 USD household resources/cost, annual flow or specified one-year counterparty incidence (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
resourceYears
1 years (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
resourceDelay
1 years (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
partnerCostPerHousehold
0 USD household resources/cost, annual flow or specified one-year counterparty incidence (unknown). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
partnerPeople
100 one-person distinct hypothetical counterparty households (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
partnerBaseline
50000 USD household resources/cost, annual flow or specified one-year counterparty incidence (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
landlordNetMargin
0 USD household resources/cost, annual flow or specified one-year counterparty incidence (unknown). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
landlordPeople
20 one-person distinct hypothetical counterparty households (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
landlordBaseline
60000 USD household resources/cost, annual flow or specified one-year counterparty incidence (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]
clinicalHarmPerPerson
0.00 additional otherwise-unmodeled QALY loss per exposed household-person (judgment). Explicit conditional prior or neutral unknown anchor. Costs persist if clinical efficacy fails; positive-only overlap never discounts negative resources. [ho-report25] [ho-services]

central: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

clinical null: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

financial only: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

complete unknown: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: unknown; all-population health QALYs: unknown. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

income unknown: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

zero expansion: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

clinical adverse: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: -3.34; all-population health QALYs: -3.52. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

weak: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.12. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

strong: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 40.29; all-population health QALYs: 40.29. Income-equivalent healthy years: -1.09. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

positive net housing: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.84. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

positive with payer cost: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.14. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

positive with landlord incidence: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.94. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

adverse housing resources: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -6.76. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

negative housing change: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -5.49. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

negative housing no overlap: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -5.49. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

no positive overlap: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.01. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

full positive overlap: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -2.45. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

disjoint households: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

all residential overlap: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

lower resource baseline: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -1.39. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

higher resource baseline: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.35. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

community cost zero: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

community high burden: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -3.50. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

unpriced housing neutral: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

two year resource stress: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -1.37. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

resource delay zero: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.71. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

resource delay three: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.65. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

three year mean cost: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

partner cost stress: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -2.40. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

partner low income incidence: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -5.07. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

landlord margin gain: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.60. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

landlord margin loss: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.70; all-population health QALYs: 1.79. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.79. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

no safety health: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 1.41; all-population health QALYs: 1.49. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

no counseling health: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: 0.29; all-population health QALYs: 0.31. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

negative clinical not overlap: Cost: $7.6M; Los Angeles health QALYs: -1.76; all-population health QALYs: -1.86. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.69. Finite conditional health and joint signed household resources; source scales are not completed causal outcomes. Partial portfolio and counterparty boundary.

Counterfactual: Public grants, CalOptima, other domestic-violence providers, ordinary advocacy, family support and existing reserves continue. The external counseling effect is already relative to ordinary advocacy, and the safety effect is relative to post-shelter usual services. b reduces added throughput for financing/provider replacement; rp and rs separately reduce clinical transfer. Past housing exits and advocacy successes are not newly purchased benefits.

Attribution: dp discounts mixed ages, intensity and participant definitions before applying the adult psychological reference. ds translates mixed residential person/family records into adult index-person equivalents; no family-size multiplier is used. k reduces overlap between mental-health recovery and safety in the same survivors. No second physical-abuse or housing-first health effect is stacked on these terms.

Conditional reference rather than calibrated posterior or complete portfolio EV. Clinical utilities, finite benefit areas, net resources and funding response remain judgments. Null clinical keeps financial costs; unknown combined results remain null.

Sensitivity

  • clinical-null: no finite positive estimate
  • financial-only: no finite positive estimate
  • complete-unknown: no finite positive estimate
  • income-unknown: no finite positive estimate
  • zero-expansion: no finite positive estimate
  • clinical-adverse: no finite positive estimate
  • weak: no finite positive estimate
  • strong: no finite positive estimate
  • positive-net-housing: no finite positive estimate
  • positive-with-payer-cost: no finite positive estimate
  • positive-with-landlord-incidence: no finite positive estimate
  • adverse-housing-resources: no finite positive estimate
  • negative-housing-change: no finite positive estimate
  • negative-housing-no-overlap: no finite positive estimate
  • no-positive-overlap: no finite positive estimate
  • full-positive-overlap: no finite positive estimate
  • disjoint-households: no finite positive estimate
  • all-residential-overlap: no finite positive estimate
  • lower-resource-baseline: no finite positive estimate
  • higher-resource-baseline: no finite positive estimate
  • community-cost-zero: no finite positive estimate
  • community-high-burden: no finite positive estimate
  • unpriced-housing-neutral: no finite positive estimate
  • two-year-resource-stress: no finite positive estimate
  • resource-delay-zero: no finite positive estimate
  • resource-delay-three: no finite positive estimate
  • three-year-mean-cost: no finite positive estimate
  • partner-cost-stress: no finite positive estimate
  • partner-low-income-incidence: no finite positive estimate
  • landlord-margin-gain: no finite positive estimate
  • landlord-margin-loss: no finite positive estimate
  • no-safety-health: no finite positive estimate
  • no-counseling-health: no finite positive estimate
  • negative-clinical-not-overlap: no finite positive estimate

Unresolved inputs

  • Distinct current participants by age, program and county; whether the reported 498 counts people, families or mixed records.
  • Counseling intensity, clinical fidelity, engagement and outcomes versus usual services; no proof that PEP is PATH.
  • Ordinary-donation allocation, restrictions, replacement finance and a costed unmet service queue.
  • Repeat-violence follow-up, safety harms, residence after relocation and cross-branch client overlap.
  • Preference-based utility and finite duration; prevention, child, legal and broader portfolio effects without double counting.
  • Accessible audit reconciliation, recognition of donated services and current resource costs beyond the 2025 return.
  • Net household disposable resources, actual aid after offsets, relocation/travel/childcare/work losses and income duration
  • Counseling/resource and residential household overlap; other family welfare
  • Institutional/landlord/private-provider counterparty net incidence and unrecognized complementary costs

Health and income breakdown

For the modeled $7.6M: 1.70 health QALYs + -0.69 income-equivalent healthy years in Los Angeles: $7.5M per DALY. Income equivalents are welfare comparisons, not observed QALYs or DALYs.

Method and caveats.

5. Funding and previous grants

Original FY 2023, FY 2024 and FY 2025 returns all select accrual accounting. Part IX expenses plus separately netted event costs are $7,094,996, $8,075,513 and $7,595,219, averaging $7,588,576. No separate netted rental, gaming or inventory costs were reported. These are full-recipient Form 990 costs, not a verified marginal cash budget.

In FY 2025, government contributions were $3,981,606. Part IX allocates $5,877,004 to programs, $1,042,079 to management and $392,945 to fundraising, before $283,191 of direct event costs. Residential and community services account for $5,458,074 of program expenses; their scale is material, but that allocation does not identify an extra gift's use. The return reports $6,459,250 net assets without donor restrictions, not all held in cash.

The return's $895,341 revenue-expense deficit differs from the $305,378 net-asset decline because it separately reports $430,963 unrealized investment gains and $159,000 other changes. The annual report uses different revenue and expense presentation. A listed audit could not be downloaded in this review, so its reconciliation and opinion are not asserted. Historical deficits alone do not prove an immediate staffing gap.

The PEP flyer identifies FaCT public funding, while the current care-management service is tied to CalOptima. Existing contracts and other providers remain in the counterfactual. Ordinary donations might pay unreimbursed counseling, flexible assistance or continuity, but no costed incremental queue or current matched-gift offer was verified. The donation page was inspected without a transaction.

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2023: $7.1M; Human Options, Inc., 12-month period, Accrual Form 990 gross expense: Part IX plus separately netted direct event costs.. Source
  • FY 2024: $8.1M; Human Options, Inc., 12-month period, Accrual Form 990 gross expense: Part IX plus separately netted direct event costs.. Source
  • FY 2025: $7.6M; Human Options, Inc., 12-month period, Accrual Form 990 gross expense: Part IX plus separately netted direct event costs.. Source

6. Sources

  1. Current operations. Human Options. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  2. Current services and eligibility. Human Options. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  3. Annual Report 2024–2025. Human Options. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  4. Original Form 990, year ended June 30, 2025. Human Options / IRS, hosted by ProPublica. Published: 2025-11-04; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  5. Original Form 990, year ended June 30, 2024. Human Options / IRS, hosted by ProPublica. Published: 2024-10-25; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  6. Original Form 990, year ended June 30, 2023. Human Options / IRS, hosted by ProPublica. Published: 2023-11-09; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  7. Current filing and audit index. ProPublica. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  8. Personal Empowerment Program, updated January 12, 2026. Human Options. Published: 2026-01-12; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  9. Donate. Human Options. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  10. Psychological advocacy towards healing: randomized trial. Ferrari et al. / PLOS ONE. Published: 2018-11-27; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  11. Reducing Violence Using Community-Based Advocacy for Women With Abusive Partners. Sullivan and Bybee / Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  12. Domestic Violence Housing First and survivors' outcomes over two years. Sullivan et al. / JAMA Network Open. Published: 2023-06-26; retrieved: 2026-10-05.