A temporary-housing shelter providing 100 beds for homeless adults and 54 beds for youth opened today in the Venice area.
“The homeless and housing crisis is a citywide challenge that requires citywide solutions,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said during an opening ceremony for the Pacific Sunset A Bridge Home facility. “Today’s opening is a reminder that people across Los Angeles are saying `yes’ to delivering the housing, healing and hope our unhoused neighbors need and deserve.”
The Pacific Sunset site is the 10th A Bridge Home temporary housing facility to open in the city, bringing the total number of available beds in the program to 673, according to Councilman Mike Bonin’s office.
“To be successful, Pacific Sunset must be of and by Venice, and not just in it,” Bonin said. “That’s why I’m so grateful to our community partners and to all the neighbors who supported and pushed hard for this project, demanding solutions and insisting that Venice says `yes’ to them. This is a big and important step in our long march to confront our homelessness
crisis.”
The A Bridge Home program is designed to provide homeless people with temporary, safe, secure housing and services, acting as a “bridge” to permanent housing.
Services for adults at Pacific Sunset will be operated by People Assisting the Homeless, and youth services will be coordinated by Safe Place for Youth.
Bonin’s office said once the first 154 individuals are settled into the facility, community organizations and neighbors will begin working with PATH and SPY to host classes and other services to help people transition off the street.
The site features murals by local artists Patrick Marston, Michael Brunt and Francisco Letelier and will include a community garden that will be maintained by residents, with the assistance of the local organization Community Healing Gardens.
According to the mayor’s office, the city is on schedule to build 26 A Bridge Home sites, providing about 2,000 beds by July 1. Pacific Sunset is the first A Bridge Home site to be partially dedicated to serving young people experiencing homelessness.
