![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776075668_175_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nMore than 200 people who live near a proposed addiction recovery center in San Pedro protested at the site Sunday afternoon, arguing the facility \u2014 which would share property with or displace a nursing home \u2014 is a bad fit for the neighborhood. <\/p>\n
Some residents are hopeful that a Tuesday evening town hall meeting will shed more light on the project, which they say was unexpected. <\/p>\n
The nonprofit Fred Brown\u2019s Recovery Services is seeking to acquire the five-acre property at 2100 Western Avenue and turn it into a 122-bed inpatient recovery facility that would serve \u201cveterans, the justice-involved, the unhoused, and those with co-occuring conditions,\u201d Fred Brown\u2019s said in a two-page information notice sent to area residents. The facility also would serve about 1,000 people on an outpatient basis.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Demonstrators say there are other options for recovery treatment in San Pedro but few affordable senior care centers.<\/p>\n
(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n
Protesters held signs and banners, some reading \u201cFuture home of 1,000 non-local addicts\u201d and \u201cNo Skid Row in San Pedro.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many residents, including Ivana Poste, said a similar but smaller and short-lived treatment center on the property, not managed by Fred Brown\u2018s, made their neighborhood feel less safe in recent months.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like a little taste of what could happen,\u201d Poste, a 36-year-old occupational therapist, said. Her husband\u2019s car was broken into, and she saw people who she believed were on drugs walking around the quiet neighborhood. <\/p>\n
Poste supports recovery but said a large-scale treatment facility on that property would be difficult to manage. \u201cThey\u2019re doing us a disservice, and we\u2019re doing them a disservice, because this is a community that helps each other,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Others said San Pedro has several alternative residential treatment facilities but almost no other low-cost senior care homes. \u201cSan Pedro has done enough,\u201d Maryanne Pesic, 72, said. \u201cWe need this like we need a hole in the head.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to The Times, Fred Brown\u2019s said it appreciated \u201cthe community\u2019s engagement on this important matter and respect its right to express its views. We are committed to ensuring this is a respectful, transparent conversation grounded in accurate information, and we look forward to continued dialogue.\u201d <\/p>\n
While the dispute is centered in one neighborhood, similar battles are likely to play out elsewhere as nonprofit groups seek to expand services to treat mental health issues, addiction and homelessness.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776075668_519_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The five-acre property on Western Avenue, which houses a retirement home formerly called Serenity Senior Village, previously was home to a nursing home run by the nuns of the Little Sisters of the Poor. The property has changed hands twice in the last five years.<\/p>\n
(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n
Underlying the conflict between neighbors and treatment centers is a widening gap between supply and demand in all kinds of housing, UCLA public health professor Randall Kuhn<\/a> said in an interview. <\/p>\n \u201cEvery community needs to accept facilities at some point, but on the other hand, we\u2019re a democracy,\u201d he said. Neither the city nor the county has agreed upon or given communities like San Pedro a reasonable expectation for addressing the crisis, Kuhn said. <\/p>\n The project is still in its earliest phases but has been preapproved for more than $73 million in grant funding under California\u2019s Proposition 1,<\/a> a $6.4-billion bond measure approved by voters in 2024 to improve mental health and addiction treatment, state records show.<\/a> Fred Brown\u2019s said in its statement to The Times that the project budget and other costs are subject to change.<\/p>\n The land was owned for decades by the Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of Roman Catholic nuns providing elder care. The nuns withdrew from the property in 2024, according to their website<\/a>. <\/p>\n Richard Scandaliato, president of San Pedro\u2019s South Shores Community Assn., said the property is close to a church with a daycare and multiple schools. <\/p>\n Residents don\u2019t object to sobriety treatment, he said, but don\u2019t think it should be in this location. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you bringing to the community?\u201d he asked. <\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776075668_570_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n