County officials to provide housing for homeless living along Southern California freeway

Los Angeles County officials will be working to remove and rehome nearly 600 homeless people living along the 105 Freeway.

The county’s Pathway Home program received a $51.5 million state grant to help those living by the freeway and nearby riverbeds secure safe housing and receive services over the next three years.

Communities on the 105 Freeway corridor from West Athens to Norwalk consist of one of the largest groups of encampments in California.

County officials said the cities that surround the massive encampment have been “disproportionately impacted by homelessness and poverty and endangered by flooding.”

Crews will begin focusing on clearing encampments where homeless people are living in tents, RVs and other makeshift structures. The area where the freeway crosses the L.A. and San Gabriel Rivers will be a primary focus.

Pathway Home workers will move the unhoused people to secure interim housing such as motel rooms and master leasing permanent housing. Crews will then work to dispose of around 60 unsafe and uninhabitable recreational vehicles.

The approved funds will also help pay for rental subsidies, housing navigation, case management, life skills development, and other services.

The project is expected to impact the nearby communities of West Athens, Willowbrook, Downey, Norwalk, South Gate, Lynwood, Santa Fe Springs, and Los Angeles. It will also impact areas near several L.A. Metro stations.

The $51.5 million grant includes $16 million from Measure H and other local funds.

“This money, along with the collaboration we are seeing at the local level, is essential to the continued success of L.A. County’s Pathway Home program,” said L.A. County supervisor Holly Mitchell. “We are removing more disabled RVs and, most importantly, urgently working to provide housing and stability to our neighbors experiencing homelessness.”

“We are grateful to Governor Newsom and the state of California for their continued support as we move forward with our all-hands-on-deck emergency response to homelessness,” said Fesia Davenport, L.A. County Chief Executive Officer. “We can’t do it alone and these vital resources will enable us to build on the successes we are already having bringing people inside through the Pathway Home program.”

Money for the efforts was granted through the Encampment Resolution Funds following a joint application by county officials and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

So far, 14 Pathway Home operations have been conducted in cities including Compton, East Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lennox, Long Beach, Lynwood, Pomona, Signal Hill, Santa Monica, Walnut Park, West Rancho Dominguez, Los Angeles as well as for riverbed evacuees from the Tropical Storm Hilary.

Since launching in August 2023, Pathway Home has helped 562 people move into interim housing and 95 people into permanent housing. The program has also contributed to the removal of 302 unsafe RVs from public roadways.