LOS ANGELES — Liliana Jimenez has been writing a new story for herself — envisioning what comes next — but she says she’s also been recording where she’s come from. Jimenez has kept a journal for years.
“It’s important as far as mental health goes too because it lets me express myself however I want,” she says. “It helps me see how I was in the past.”
She says sometimes she looks back at old journals and feels very far away from the person who wrote them.
“I felt so ashamed of it… but good thing I know so I can change it, and be better,” she said.
For Jimenez, the past year has been full of change. The 42-year-old spent over 20 years living on the streets of LA and much of that time on skid row.
Today, she has an apartment and a home for herself, her dog, Babygirl, and her cat, Lucy.
She says for years, she couldn’t see a way out of homelessness and addiction.
“At the time, it’s all I knew. It’s all I knew how to cope with my problems [was] just numbing it. Definitely I did not want to stay like this, you know? Something had to give, just my mental health was really, really really bad,” she said.
Eventually, she got connected with the Downtown Women’s Center, which serves homeless women in Los Angeles. After the tumult of her life on the streets and for a time in shelters, Jimenez was able to move into permanent supportive housing at the center. She’s been able to make her apartment her own, decorating the walls with inspirational quotes, family photos and pictures of her favorite actress, Lucille Ball.
“It didn’t really hit me until I got sober, that I started thinking this is really my place, I can really do something and build from it, improve myself,” she said.
And while Jimenez has been doing the emotional and personal work to rebuild her life — including getting sober, finding work and attending therapy at the Downtown Women’s Center, the city is transforming too.
Last week Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s Strategic Growth Council announced an investment of $757 million that will be made into more affordable housing and clean transportation.
“California is reimagining communities around the state to address the ways our cities are changing—adapting to climate change and confronting housing scarcity,” Newsom said in a statement. “These investments will help cut carbon pollution and build more affordable housing as we look forward to a clean energy future.”
Of the $757 million invested in the state, $156.9 million has been allocated for the City of LA and $26.5 million will go directly to the Downtown Women’s Center. The funding will help create Rosa’s Place, a new building named after the first woman to use DWC services. The new site will include 97 units of housing. Amy Turk, CEO at the DWC, says this funding will create immense and meaningful change.
“Working on this project has been some of the most fulfilling work I’ve done in my career. On Wednesday, when we were awarded $26.5 million, it was just such a relief. It was joyous, the strategic growth council was also excited. The members expressed joy for this opportunity,” Turk said.
She added that while housing is of paramount importance, the funding will also be used to make the area around the Downtown Women’s Center safer for residents — it’s about transforming Skid Row for everyone. “Our vision in building the new units is to see Skid Row as a destination for housing and not homelessness — that is a vision that is shared by the City and the County of Los Angeles.” she said.
For Jimenez, having a new vision of what her life can look like after homelessness is what she says has helped her create a new life for herself.
“I’m content, I’m at peace and I am growing up,” she said.