Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
LA County clears way for dozens of ‘most needed’ mental health beds in Boyle Heights
The historic Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in 2009.
(
Kansas Sebastian
/
Creative Commons via Flickr
)
Los Angeles County leaders are moving forward with a project that will supply nearly 100 treatment beds for people living with serious mental illness, a much-needed step toward providing options for some of the region’s most vulnerable residents.
The new beds — 96 of them — will help finish the county’s Restorative Care Village in Boyle Heights, a facility set up to serve the health needs of Los Angeles County’s unhoused population.
County Supervisor Hilda Solis said in a news release that these types of treatment beds have been identified as the “most needed to help address our County’s behavioral health crisis.”
“Once completed, the Restorative Care Village will restore dignity to our communities and give our most vulnerable hope for a new beginning,” Solis said.
Support for LAist comes from
Who is the project for?
County authorities say the new beds will mostly be for people living with serious mental illness — like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder — who no longer need to be hospitalized but are not ready to live independently.
Listen
• 0:37
LA County clears way for dozens of ‘most needed’ mental health beds in Boyle Heights
They will be housed within a locked facility where patients can get round-the-clock psychiatric care.
What will it cost?
The cost is estimated at $143 million, with some of that funding coming from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, county authorities said.
Support for LAist comes from
The project is expected to be completed in 2026.
How severe is the need?
These so-called subacute beds are the “most urgent resource need” for the county to address the ongoing behavioral health crisis, according to a February report from a consulting agency hired by the county.
Estimates vary, but many experts say L.A. County needs hundreds more beds at this treatment level to meet the needs of residents living with serious mental illness.
Why is it so hard to provide psychiatric beds?
Experts link the bed shortage, in part, to a rule that was baked into the foundation of the federal Medicaid program in 1965.
The Institutions for Mental Disease exclusion bars any facility focused on treating adults with mental illness from receiving Medicaid dollars if it has more than 16 beds.
Support for LAist comes from
The lawmakers’ intent for the exclusion was to move away from the large asylums of the time, some of which had become notorious for inhumane treatment. The plan was that smaller, more community-based facilities would spring up around the country, offering an alternative to the large institutions that locked people away from society and often mistreated them.
But the number of smaller facilities needed to make up for the closure of larger ones never materialized.
The Boyle Heights project would likely comply with that federal rule because it consists of six separately-operated programs within a 92,000-square-foot facility, according to the county.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
If approved, the more than 62-acre project would include 50 housing lots and a marina less than a mile from Jackie and Shadow's famous nest overlooking the lake. -
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Southern California, overturning a lower court ruling that prohibited agents from stopping people based on their appearance.
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
Best of LAist