The Metropolitan State Hospital, located in Norwalk, opened its doors in 1916 as a self-contained facility complete with its own farm to treat people with mental illness. Over the decades, the hospital drastically shrank, mirroring a broader deinstitutionalization movement sweeping the state and country amid growing concerns over abuse in state psychiatric hospitals.
On Friday, state and local officials held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Los Angeles County Care Community, a new initiative set to open over the next few years within six now-vacant buildings at the state hospital. The facility will offer more than 150 beds dedicated to individuals facing mental health challenges, including 32 locked “subacute” beds specifically for young adults aged 18 to 25 experiencing severe crises.
The new campus will be operated by Los Angeles County, with major funding coming from Proposition 1. This voter-approved measure, backed by Governor Gavin Newsom and passed in 2024, increased state funding for housing units that provide treatment for substance abuse and mental health challenges.
“We have residents — many of them young people — who are struggling with serious mental illness and have nowhere to go,” said L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn in a statement. “By locking arms with the state, LA County is transforming these vacant buildings into a mental healthcare village where people can get the safe, professional, and compassionate treatment and housing they desperately need.”
### A New Approach to Mental Health and Homelessness
The new mental health village marks a small but significant shift toward addressing the state’s homelessness and mental health crises with more mandatory treatment programs. In 2023, following a push by Governor Newsom, the state launched CARE Court, a program enabling judges to mandate mental health treatment plans for individuals who do not voluntarily agree to seek help.
Some cities have also introduced measures allowing police to fine or arrest people sleeping on the streets, reflecting a tougher approach to homelessness.
At the Los Angeles County Care Community, the 32 locked subacute beds for young adults will require individuals to enter after being placed under conservatorship, meaning they cannot leave voluntarily. This approach has drawn criticism from civil rights organizations concerned about funding locked treatment facilities under Proposition 1.
However, officials emphasize that the new Norwalk campus will not return to the inhumane conditions of the past. Kyla Coates, senior deputy director with the county’s Department of Mental Health, explained that today’s patients have greater rights and opportunities to challenge their commitments. Before conservatorship, individuals are provided a public defender, and every six months, they can contest their status and potentially exit the program.
### Housing and Care on One Campus
In addition to the secure beds, the campus will feature 70 beds of interim housing and 60 units of permanent supportive housing. These options provide different levels of mental health care where residents can come and go freely. Twenty of the interim beds will be prioritized for people experiencing homelessness in Norwalk.
Each housing site will connect to an outdoor courtyard with a garden, as well as large communal rooms hosting group activities, according to Coates. By offering varied levels of services in one location, officials hope participants will have a better chance of long-term success. For example, once someone receives immediate care for a severe mental health crisis, they can transition smoothly into interim or permanent supportive housing without needing to seek help elsewhere.
“We need a lot more of this, but this will show people that it can be done,” Hahn said, highlighting her support and advocacy for the project.
### A History of Change at Metropolitan State Hospital
The emptying of state psychiatric hospitals beginning in the 1960s has often been linked to rising homelessness, though the extent of its impact remains debated. Some hospitals closed entirely amid reforms that made it harder to hold individuals against their will, but Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk remained open, albeit at a reduced capacity.
Today, the Norwalk site houses roughly 850 patients—down from a peak of 5,000 in the 1950s, according to Diana Barnes, who manages the hospital’s museum. Exhibits at the museum document outdated and now-forbidden practices such as forced sterilization and lobotomies.
Not all patients were committed involuntarily. One notable case involved Bela Lugosi, the Hungarian actor famous for portraying Count Dracula. In 1955, Lugosi voluntarily admitted himself to Metropolitan State Hospital for treatment of an opioid addiction he developed while managing pain from a World War I injury.
Currently, most patients have been deemed too mentally incompetent to stand trial. Others have been declared not guilty by reason of insanity or are under conservatorship.
### Looking Forward
The six vacant buildings that will house the Los Angeles County Care Community have been empty since the early 2000s. The 70 interim housing beds are expected to open by the end of 2027, with the locked subacute beds due to be completed in early 2028. A timeline for completing the permanent supportive housing units has yet to be determined.
This ambitious project aims to provide a spectrum of mental health care options within a single campus, setting a new standard for compassionate and comprehensive treatment in Los Angeles County.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-06/new-mental-health-campus-is-coming-to-historic-state-hospital-in-norwalk
