Dear Friends:

April 28, 2006

Dear Friends of L.A. Family Housing:

It has been a true honor to serve as the President and CEO of L.A. Family Housing for the past six and a half years. My time here has genuinely been the most rewarding professional experience of my life. It is with very mixed feelings, therefore, that I share with you the news that I am leaving L.A. Family Housing to join with former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and his private sector housing finance company, CityView, to form a new national nonprofit, American Sunrise Communities (ASC). As the President of ASC, I will work with a number of financial institutions and local nonprofits--including L.A. Family Housing--to generate affordable homeownership opportunities for low-income families.

Rest assured that L.A. Family Housing will continue to provide outstanding, high quality services throughout the transition period. As I leave, Vivian Ramirez, our Chief Operating Officer, will take up the role of Acting CEO.

I am proud of the work we have done here at LAFH and confident that it will only get better. Let me highlight just a few of our accomplishments in recent weeks:

• The April 7th edition of the Daily News featured a front page article on our services to homeless families and individuals. (A copy of the article is enclosed.)

• Nearly $2 million of rehab has started at our two North Hollywood sites, the Sydney M. Irmas Transitional Living Center (TLC) and the Trudy and Norman Louis Valley Shelter.

• On April 6th we hosted a very successful KaBOOM! Design Day in anticipation of the installation of a brand new playground for children and youth at TLC in June.

• We recently signed an MOU with L.A. Valley College to train and place 30 LAFH clients in living wage jobs at the new NoHo Commons commercial/retail development in North Hollywood. We are also seeking affordable apartments at the site for some of our homeless families.

• On April 2nd, Universal Studios Hollywood hosted its annual Christmas in the Spring at TLC, featuring Curious George and other Universal characters, Santa Claus, gifts, food, music and games for over 300 of our children and families.

• The City of Los Angeles has also reinstated its Section 8 voucher program that will allow hundreds of our homeless families to find affordable homes.

In addition, we continue to place more than 70 percent of the families in our transitional living program into permanent affordable housing, a significant success rate given the myriad of challenges they face. Finally, we are about to open Cecil Younger Gardens, a brand new 30-unit affordable housing development in Van Nuys that will include 26 child care slots for children ages two to five.

As those of you who know me know, I have never been shy about asking for money: I believe deeply in the important and excellent work that L.A. Family Housing does. If you share that belief with me I ask you to take the occasion of my leaving to make a contribution to L.A. Family Housing so that it can continue to serve vulnerable children and families.

I am blessed and fortunate to have had the privilege of working with you over the past several years. My sincerest thanks for your continued support of L.A. Family Housing.

With much gratitude,

David S. Grunwald
Chief Executive Officer