Six vacant buildings on the 162-acre Metropolitan State Hospital grounds in Norwalk are being transformed into a mental health treatment village with 162 beds for troubled youth and individuals experiencing homelessness. Rather than demolishing the structures, part of a 110-year-old state mental hospital complex, they are being remodeled as housing that combines stable living with wrap-around services for treatment of residents with drug addiction and mental health illness.
The Los Angeles County Care Community is a $107 million project built by Los Angeles County and various state agencies with full city support. About $65 million comes from Proposition 1, approved by voters two years ago to fund behavioral health facilities emphasizing services for people with mental illness experiencing homelessness. The project is the first funded by 2024’s Proposition 1, which allows the state to fund mental health beds and treatment centers throughout California. State Senate Bill 1336, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, enabled the state to lease buildings to Los Angeles County for 55 years to create housing and psychiatric treatment facilities.
The project is critical because surveys indicate at least 25 percent of the estimated 72,308 people living without permanent shelter in Los Angeles County have serious mental illness, including psychotic disorders and schizophrenia. As experts note, housing without behavioral treatment cannot be successful. County reports identified a lack of available beds as the biggest barrier to providing mental health services to homeless people.
The facility will offer three levels of care: two locked mental health rehabilitation centers with 32 beds for young adults ages 18 to 25 with the highest level of mental health needs; one interim housing facility with 70 beds for stable young adults requiring short-term housing with wrap-around mental health treatment; and two permanent housing facilities totaling 60 apartments for adults with mental illness who previously were homeless. Remodeling has begun on two buildings scheduled for completion by December 2027, with additional buildings finished in early 2028. The state-county partnership is viewed as a model for expanding mental health treatment beds for homeless Californians in other parts of the state.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.sgvtribune.com/2026/03/06/a-110-year-old-la-county-mental-health-complex-is-getting-new-life/