City Councilman David Ryu, 4th District, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and city officials Mike Schull and Jon Deutsh celebrated the new bridge housing project at 3210 Riverside Drive, which is scheduled to open in four months.(photo by Jose Herrera)
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Councilman David Ryu, 4th District, broke ground on the latest bridge housing shelter for 100 men and women currently experiencing homelessness that will also connect them with mental health and counseling services.
The temporary structure at 3210 Riverside Drive is scheduled to open in June. The facility will have beds, common areas, storage areas, space for pets and offices for residents to meet with counselors and social workers. The $5.6 million project is funded primarily through state grants and will be operated by People Assisting the Homeless.
“The Los Feliz bridge home will bring those currently living on the street or the banks of the Los Angeles River into housing and real life-changing care,” Ryu said. “We will continue this progress the same way we got to today by working together, neighbor with neighbor, on the solutions we know make a real difference in this crisis.”
The groundbreaking event was supported by neighborhood groups including the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council, Los Feliz Improvement Association, Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, Griffith Park Advisory Board and other organizations.
Jon Deutsch, president of the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council, said that a neighborhood isn’t defined by its topography or wealth, but by the people who live there.
“Together, as one neighborhood, we can confront this terrible crisis and ensure that everyone in Los Feliz has a roof over their heads,” Deutsch said.
Garcetti said that you can’t police or clean away homelessness, but instead the issue should be something that the city and state government should work together to solve.
“Angelenos are coming together to confront the moral and humanitarian challenge of our time – the homeless and housing crisis,” Garcetti said. “The A Bridge Home program is saving lives by getting our homeless neighbors off the streets.”
0 Comment