A Community of Friends

About A Community of Friends

A Community of Friends (ACOF) is a nonprofit affordable housing developer whose mission is to end homelessness through the provision of quality permanent supportive housing for people with mental illness. From inception ACOF’s philosophy was to provide a permanent home in an apartment setting with onsite supportive services. Now called permanent supportive housing, ACOF was the first nonprofit to pioneer this model throughout Los Angeles County and likely the second nonprofit in the country.

ACOF is now one of the most well regarded and well-respected affordable housing developers in the Los Angeles County area. In 30+ years, it has completed 51 apartment projects, housing over 2,700 people including over 650 children. Its retention rate is currently 91% after one year and 68% after three years. As an experienced housing provider for people with special needs, ACOF has completed senior buildings, buildings for transitional age youth, veterans-only projects, and a building for developmentally disabled adults.

ACOF secures all project financing, performs community outreach, assembles the project team and manages the project through all phases of development, construction activity and lease-up. ACOF provides or oversees the provision of services to its tenants and plays an active on-going role in the management of its properties including tenant selection, maintenance, and asset management.

While ACOF works primarily in LA County, it has completed projects in Orange and San Diego counties and have projects in the pipeline in Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Two decades ago, ACOF helped create The Association of Community Housing Solutions to do similar work in San Diego. Around the same time, ACOF began to partner with social services organizations as co-developers to build their capacity. ACOF has since “spun off” seven projects to its nonprofit partners. At this time, ACOF’s portfolio is comprised of 43 properties totaling 1,727 units.