NORWALK, Calif. (KABC) — Local leaders have broken ground on a project to turn vacant state buildings at the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk into a new mental health facility for Los Angeles County.
The price tag for the project is just over $100 million, with $65 million coming from voter-approved Proposition 1. The measure was passed in 2024 and has raised billions of dollars for mental health programs and facilities.
“We will have secure mental health rehabilitation centers for young adults in crisis, interim housing for people who need mental health support and long-term supportive housing for people living with mental illness who were previously homeless,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn during an event.
L.A. County will lease vacant buildings on this Norwalk campus, and when completed, it’ll be called the Mental Health Treatment Village.
“These buildings can now be used by the county of Los Angeles, nonprofit partners as well, to provide housing and behavioral health treatment for those who need help,” said California State Senator Bob Archuleta. More than 100 beds will be provided to help youth and adults deal with mental health issues.
After working for more than 20 years on L.A.’s Skid Row, Dr. Lisa Wong, the director of the L.A. County Department of Mental Health, believes that the project will make a huge difference in helping people get the help they need.
“What something like this does … it makes that possibility for recovery a probability and then a reality,” she said.
The first of the housing units are expected to be completed in less than two years.
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