Welcome Navigation Center
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) has announced a new interim housing pilot program is taking place in South Los Angeles with the aim of helping referred, unhoused individuals find permanent housing within 30 days.
At a recent news conference in the South Park neighborhood, officials unveiled the Welcome Navigation Center, a 41-room, 24,000-square-foot facility at 300 W. 45th St. near Broadway, has the capacity to temporarily house 80 people. LAHSA CEO Va Lecia Adams Kellum, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, Councilman Curren Price — who represents the 9th District, which includes the center — and Metro Deputy CEO Sharon Gookin visited the center on June 13.
If the program is successful, officials will consider expanding it to other parts of the city and county of Los Angeles. Officials noted the program is showing early signs of success with more than 200 people given services since its inception in December 2023.
“LAHSA’s Welcome Navigation Center is a new and bold solution that improves the rehousing process by addressing multiple hurdles simultaneously,” Kellum said in a statement. “Compromised health conditions, lack of transportation, and inadequate documentation make it impossible for our unsheltered neighbors to start their housing application process. Through this pilot program, LAHSA and its partners provide critical services under one central location to expedite their journey home.”
Key aspects of the program involve helping participants be “document ready” for housing applications, and provide access to mental and physical health care. Other features of the center include three meals daily for participants, a community hall, outdoor patio, laundry room and a pet relief area.
In a statement, Bass hailed the pilot program, noting that it will take “innovative solutions” to address the homelessness crisis.
`We will continue to work together across the city, county, Metro and beyond to continue treating homelessness as the crisis we know that it is. I look forward to seeing the positive impacts that these services and the facility will have for unhoused Angelenos,” Bass said.
After the 30-day period expires, participants may be given an extension or transferred to alternative interim housing sites while still receiving services and housing-related support, LAHSA officials said. Relocating participants allows the agency to maintain a steady flow of clients through the Welcome Navigation Center and ensure people remain inside. Additionally, LAHSA will conduct outreach to the local community to engage with people experiencing homelessness near the Welcome Navigation Center.
Price said the center highlights their commitment to meeting “our unhoused neighbors with empathy and urgency.”
The center is also expected to provide 25 beds available for unhoused individuals who have been using Metro’s trains and buses as shelter.