New Home Offers Mentally Ill More Than a View

Twenty-five mentally ill adults will have a new home today when they move into a $3.5-million pink stucco apartment complex in North Hollywood.

Garden Villa Apartments on Klump Street is the 16th housing project for the mentally ill established by the Homes for Life Foundation, a nonprofit agency that serves Los Angeles County.

The San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center helped created the North Hollywood housing project and will provide staff members to assist the residents and a resident manager to live at the complex.

About 150 doctors, psychiatrists, counselors and soon-to-be residents gathered at the apartment complex Friday afternoon for a dedication ceremony that featured a mariachi band and guided tours of the flower-and-balloon filled facility.

“It’s the bomb. It’s great. It’s fantastic,” said Brian Kelly, who will move into his new apartment Saturday. “I didn’t expect it to be this nice.”

The 27-year-old cook at a Valley restaurant said he particularly likes his new kitchen. “The first thing I’m going to do is make a big casserole,” he said.

Residents will pay 30% of their adjusted gross income for rent, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will pay the rest, said Nancy Lewis, Homes for Life Housing Development Consultant. Funding for the design and construction of Garden Villa Apartments was provided by HUD, the Community Redevelopment Agency of the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

Without housing projects such as the Garden Villa Apartments, many more mentally ill individuals would be homeless, Lewis said. She said an estimated 50% of the homeless population is mentally ill.

“There are very few alternatives where they can live in a place that’s affordable and safe and that provides the services they need,” Lewis said. “They really need a place where every little problem won’t land them on the street and homeless again.”