Governor Newsom announces major transformation of six vacant buildings in Los Angeles County into mental health and housing communities

Rendering of Los Angeles County Care Community campus

The campus will include:

• Two subacute psychiatric facilities (32 beds) funded by the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) for young adults ages 18–25 with significant mental health needs.
• A 70‑bed interim housing facility with wraparound mental health services.
• Two permanent supportive housing buildings with 60 apartments for adults exiting homelessness.
• A shared community building for case management, wellness services, and onsite supports.

“Today marks a critical milestone in our commitment to transforming California’s behavioral health system,” said California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Kim Johnson. “Through these investments, we are creating bold, community-driven solutions that expand access to care, promote equity, and meet people where they are. These projects reflect our values and vision for a healthier, more compassionate California.”

In 2024, Governor Newsom signed SB 1336 by Senator Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera), allowing Los Angeles County to lease vacant buildings at Metropolitan State Hospital and clearing the way for this critical project.

“This campus will bring care closer to home for Los Angeles County residents,” said Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Director Michelle Baass. “This facility, and soon, many more like it, will provide thousands of new opportunities for treatment, stability, and a coordinated place for people to get the support they need.”

“This is exactly the type of project voters want us to be doing,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who proposed and championed the project. “These buildings are doing no one any good sitting empty. By locking arms with the state, Los Angeles County is transforming them into a mental health care village where people can get the safe, professional, and compassionate treatment and housing they desperately need.”

“This project represents a long-term, 30-year investment in expanding treatment and recovery-focused care,” said DHCS Community Services Division Chief Marlies Perez. “It ensures that this site continues to evolve with the community, offering support, stability, and opportunity for the people who need it most.”

The project also supports California’s Path and Purpose initiative, which supports mental health, connection, and opportunity for young men and boys. One of the campus’ secure subacute facilities will specifically serve young men ages 18–25.

Expanding community mental health supports

Los Angeles County faces significant behavioral health needs, particularly among young adults. According to a RAND evaluation, in 2024, 37 percent of youth ages 14-25 reported experiencing moderate to serious psychological distress, underscoring the need for expanded treatment capacity and community-based supports such as those provided by the Los Angeles County Care Community. 

To address these gaps, DHCS has awarded $1.7 billion in BHCIP grants since 2021 to expand behavioral health facilities and crisis services. Following voter approval of Proposition 1 in 2024, DHCS has awarded an additional $2.9 billion across 111 projects in 41 counties, which will create thousands of new residential and outpatient treatment slots. More than $1.18 billion in Bond BHCIP Round 2: Unmet Needs funding will be announced this spring.

Bigger picture

California is building a comprehensive continuum of behavioral health care, offering a full range of supports, from prevention and early intervention to treatment, crisis response, and long-term recovery. This approach is designed to ensure that every Californian – especially those who have historically faced the greatest barriers to care – can access high-quality mental health and substance use treatment when and where they need it. 

Backed by significant investments, new policies, and strong partnerships, California is expanding treatment services and supportive housing while strengthening and diversifying the workforce. By prioritizing prevention, early support, and services tailored to individual needs, California is helping people get the right care at the right time, leading to better health outcomes and stronger communities statewide.

Repairing California’s behavioral health system

In 2019, during his first State of the State, Governor Newsom announced that addressing the homelessness and mental health crises would become a new state priority — making him the first Governor to launch a statewide strategy to address these challenges. 

The Governor began repairing a system that had suffered from decades of neglect, beginning with then-Governor Reagan’s administration, when state hospitals were closed and no adequate alternative was provided, leaving people most in need of help to fall into the criminal justice system or homelessness. This created a generational impact. 

Today, across California, individuals with untreated psychosis are 10 times more likely to experience homelessness and 16 times more likely to be incarcerated.   

Through Governor Newsom’s work, California is repairing its behavioral health continuum – building new treatment facilities, expanding the workforce of care, establishing new programs to address unique needs and get people help and shelter, providing vital funding to communities, and creating stronger accountability measures and expectations to ensure everyone is doing their part.

Reversing decades of inaction on homelessness

Governor Newsom is creating a structural and foundational model for America:

✅ Creating shelter and support — Providing funding and programs for local governments, coupled with strong accountability measures to ensure that each local government is doing its share to build housing, and create shelter and support, so that people living in encampments have a safe place to go. This week, through a $77 million investment from California’s cap and invest program, Los Angeles announced the expansion and redevelopment of the largest public housing project in the region, the Jordan Downs Project.

✅ Addressing mental health and its impact on homelessness — Ending a long-standing behavioral health bed shortfall in California by rapidly expanding community treatment centers and permanent supportive housing units. In 2024, voters approved Governor Newsom’s Proposition 1, which is transforming California’s behavioral health systems. When fully awarded, funding from Proposition 1 bonds is estimated to create 6,800 residential treatment beds and 26,700 outpatient treatment slots for behavioral health care.

✅ Creating new pathways for those who need the most help — Updating conservatorship laws for the first time in 50 years to include people who are unable to provide for their personal safety or necessary medical care, in addition to food, clothing, or shelter, due to either severe substance use disorder or serious mental health illness. Creating a new CARE court system that creates court-administered plans for up to 24 months for people struggling with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, often with substance use challenges.

✅ Streamlining and prioritizing building of new housing — Governor Newsom made creating more housing a state priority for the first time in history. He has signed into law groundbreaking reforms to break down systemic barriers that have stood in the way of building the housing Californians need, including broad CEQA reforms. 

✅ Removing dangerous encampments — Governor Newsom has set a strong expectation for all local governments to address encampments in their communities and help connect people with support. In 2024, Governor Newsom filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court defending communities’ authority to clear encampments. After the Supreme Court affirmed local authority, Governor Newsom issued an executive order directing state entities and urging local governments to clear encampments and connect people with support, using a state-tested model that helps ensure encampments are addressed humanely and people are given adequate notice and support. 

In 2025, just a year after he issued an executive order urging local governments to better address encampments, the Governor announced his SAFE Task Force to address encampments in California’s 10 largest cities. In just a few months, the task force has addressed encampments in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Sacramento, and Fresno — connecting dozens of people with shelter.  Since 2021, Caltrans has removed more than 19,000 encampments on state right-of-way and collected approximately 354,000 cubic yards of litter and debris.