The Metropolitan State Hospital opened in Norwalk in 1916, a private facility complete with its own farm for the treatment of the mentally ill.
Over the past decades, the institution has fallen into disrepair, reflecting a large increase in deinstitutionalization nationally and internationally amid concerns about abuse in public psychiatric hospitals.
Now, the hospital, which currently treats the majority of people involved in the justice system, is expanding to alleviate the overwhelming mental health and homelessness crisis, in what supporters have described as a more compassionate approach than ever before.
On Friday, state and local officials held a grand opening for the Los Angeles County Care Community, which will open in the next few years in six buildings now vacant at the state hospital.
In total, there will be more than 150 beds available for people with mental health challenges, including 32 for young adults facing a serious problem.
The new campus will be run by the county, but the bulk of the funding for the effort comes from Proposition 1, a measure voters backed by Gov. Newsom approved in 2024 that expands federal funding for housing units where people are treated for substance abuse and mental health challenges.
“We have citizens — most of them young people — who are struggling with serious mental illness and they have nowhere to go,” LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement. “By joining forces with the government, LA County is transforming these vacant buildings into a mental health village where people can receive the safe, effective, and compassionate treatment and housing they so desperately need.”
The new town represents at least a small shift toward addressing the state’s homelessness and mental health problems through more mandatory programs.
In 2023, after pressure from Newsom, the state introduced a program known as CARE Court that allows judges to approve mental health treatment programs if people do not consent voluntarily.
Some cities have also moved to allow police to fine or arrest people sleeping on the streets.
At the new Los Angeles County Care Community, 32 “fairytale” beds for children ages 18 to 25 are locked, meaning people can’t leave voluntarily. They will enter the institution after being placed under the Conservatory.
Human rights organizations criticized the Prop. 1 for the funding of closed treatment centers. But officials said the new Norwalk campus is not a return to the brutal conditions of decades past.
Kyla Coates, deputy executive director of the county’s Department of Mental Health, said today people have more opportunities to challenge their commitment. Before entering the Conservatory, people are assigned a public defender and every six months they have the opportunity to contest their status and leave.
In addition to the secure beds, there will be another 70 temporary housing beds and 60 permanent supportive housing units on site, where residents can access different levels of mental health care and come and go as they please.
Twenty temporary beds will be prioritized for people experiencing homelessness in Norwalk.
Each of the apartments will connect to an outdoor courtyard with a garden and large community rooms with group activities, Coates said.
By getting different levels of services in one way, officials hope that participants will have a better chance of success.
For example, if a person experiencing a serious mental health problem receives the immediate care they need, they will not have to travel to receive long-term care elsewhere, but instead live in temporary or permanent supportive housing on site.
“We need more of this, but this will show people that it can be done,” said Hahn, who pushed the project.
The dismantling of state mental hospitals since the 1960s has been blamed for rising homelessness rates in recent decades, although how much of a role it played is disputed.
Some hospitals have closed entirely amid changes that have made it harder to hold people against their will, while Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk is still open – albeit on a smaller scale.
Today, there are about 850 patients in the Norwalk area, down from 5,000 in the 1950s, said Diana Barnes, who runs the state hospital’s museum.
Museum exhibits highlight ancient practices that are no longer allowed, including forced sterilizations and lobotomies.
But not all patients did it voluntarily. Another documentary detail is how Bela Lugosi, the famous Hungarian actor known for portraying Count Dracula, confessed in 1955 to cure an opioid addiction he developed while trying to manage the pain of World War I injuries.
Most of the patients today are considered incompetent to stand trial, Barnes said. Some are declared not guilty by reason of insanity, while others are in prisons.
The six vacant buildings, which the county is leasing to house the Los Angeles County Care Community, have been vacant since the early 2000s.
70 temporary housing beds are expected to open by the end of 2027, with basement beds to be completed by early 2028. A date for the completion of permanent supportive housing is yet to be determined.
“Today marks an important milestone in addressing California’s growing mental health crisis,” said State Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera), who helped get the state to lease the buildings., on friday morning. “Instead of sitting empty, these buildings will now have a place for care, recovery and stability.”
