Los Angeles City Councilman David Ryu, Mayor Eric Garcetti and Regina Bette, president and CEO of Aviva Family and Children’s Services, were on hand for the opening of bridge housing at Wallis House. (photo courtesy of City Councilman David Ryu)

On Oct. 15, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Councilman David Ryu, 4th District, and leaders from Aviva Family and Children’s Services opened a new bridge housing center for transitional-aged women and their children today on the corner of Camino Palermo Street and Hollywood Boulevard. Wallis House, operated by Aviva, will provide private units of housing to women experiencing homelessness between the ages of 18 and 24 and their children, as well as wraparound services of mental healthcare, job training and life skills.

“Homelessness is a crisis in every neighborhood and among every community, but some are more vulnerable to homelessness than others,” Ryu said. “Young single mothers face high barriers to making ends meet and are at a far greater risk of harm when living on the street. We need housing and services that meet their specific needs. With 42 private units, job training and wraparound services, Wallis House is the perfect place to support these young families.”

Wallis House, a historic property in Hollywood, welcomed 15 families on Oct. 15. The young women will transition out of homelessness and into independent living with housing, food, clothing, mental health resources and life skills training. The house includes a gym, play area for kids, boutique and salon where residents can learn cosmetology, sewing and retail skills. As a permanent bridge housing project, Wallis House will help many more women and their children over its lifetime. The project was funded with $2.36 million from the city under the Homeless Emergency Assistance Program funds. Residents and their families will live at the house for up to two years as they move to more permanent housing.

“A Bridge Home sites across Los Angeles are getting our homelessness neighbors off the streets and into housing,” Garcetti said. “The opening of Wallis House is another milestone in this work and will connect transitional-aged women and their children with the housing, healing and hope they urgently need and deserve.”

Wallis House is one of six homeless housing projects currently open, under construction, or under review in Council District 4. It joins the 100-bed emergency shelter at the LGBT Center’s Anita May Rosenstein Campus, which opened in April, and the 30-bed Women’s Bridge Housing Center on Gardner Street, which opened in September. In total, 172 new beds and units of homeless housing have come online in Council District 4 since the start of 2019, with another 342 under construction or in development.