Councilmember Blumenfield outside of the new Bridge Housing site with Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, President and CEO of LA Family Housing.
To help get more homeless individuals off the street and into housing, Blumenfield secured a Bridge Housing site for the West Valley in Canoga Park. The property, located at 7621 Canoga Avenue, had been privately owned, but used to serve as a County mental health facility. Blumenfield worked directly with County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl to acquire and transform the property. The City allocated a conditional grant of $4.3 million to the County to purchase the property, then the County renovated the site and has agreed to provide no less than fifteen years of Bridge Housing services for homeless people.
Unlike an emergency shelter where the clients must leave in the morning and return at night, Bridge Housing enables clients to actually live on site and receive wrap around services until they can transition to a permanent home. It has proven to be a much more successful model with less impact on the neighboring community.
Though this site is a ‘permanent’ Bridge Housing facility, it provides 70 people experiencing homelessness with ‘temporary’ and transitional housing, just like other bridge housing sites opening up around the city.
Below: Team Blumenfield organizing welcome kits for new residents at the Willows