VENICE, Calif. – More than two years after neighbors packed a contentious town hall meeting to fight a proposed shelter at 100 East Sunset Ave., the 154-bed “A Bridge Home” project will open in Venice on Tuesday.
The shelter is one of two-dozen opening under Mayor Eric Garcetti’s plan to bring a shelter to every district in his jurisdiction. Under the program, Garcetti says Los Angeles is adding shelter beds faster than any other city in America.
“The urgency, there’s no slacking. We don’t have time. We have people dying on the streets. We need to address it,” said Apryle Brodie, senior project manager for “A Bridge Home.” Brodie says she is currently overseeing 29 shelters in some phase of development.
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The program will lead to more than 2,000 new shelter beds by this summer, Garcetti said at a recent news conference. The program relies on a $20-million fund to build the structures, which are built to last approximately three years. Even with the new beds, Garcetti said people are still becoming homeless faster than the city can house them.
The Venice shelter features 150 beds, one third of which are for young people. It will be managed by A Safe Place for Youth and PATH.
A week before the opening, Kelvin Williams sat on a bench on the boardwalk, watching the daily parade of characters who walk down Ocean Front Walk. A local, Williams knows all too well the bitter chill of the beach at dawn. He was homeless for 10 years before he got into another shelter run by PATH.
“I felt like a wild animal at one point,” Williams said of his time on the street. “But now, I’m on my own and I can relax. I feel like a different man.”
Williams said he lived in the shelter for two years before he found permanent affordable housing. During that time, PATH helped him learn to save money and get his mental health in check. He still relies on the program to help him maintain the apartment he fought so hard to secure.
“I hope they build affordable housing,” Williams said. “That’s what I’m praying for.”
In fact, the lack of nearby affordable housing may be the next setback for the homeless who move into the shelter. But while they wait to transition, they will have case managers, a cubicle of their own and three hot meals a day.