Earlier this year, Governor Newsom signed a bill to facilitate the redevelopment of portions of the Metropolitan State Hospital complex in Norwalk with affordable housing. Now, Los Angeles County gets to work making it happen.

On November 26, the Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a motion from Supervisor Janice Hahn to issue a request for proposals for the development of two buildings on the campus as permanent supportive housing, providing a total of 50 homes for unhoused individuals with a mental illness. The project would be funded using $20 million in Los Angeles County's No Place Like Home funds.

Under an agreement between the state and the County, six vacant buildings on the hospital property are to become the "Los Angeles County Care Community." This will include the two permanent supportive housing facilities included in the new request for proposals, as well as two interim housing facilities, and two subacute psychiatric facilities catering to young adults between the ages of 18 and 25.

LAist previously reported that the complex will include 219 beds of interim and permanent housing, when completed.

While the hospital is state property, recent developments have made it more difficult for private developers to bring similar projects to the surrounding jurisdiction of Norwalk, which has adopted an ordinance banning the construction of homeless housing within its boundaries. The state has sued Norwalk to force it overturn the ordinance, and decertified its housing element in response.

Follow us on social media: 

Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn / Threads / Instagram / Bluesky