Newsom signs bill allowing unused state property to be converted to mental healthcare village

NORWALK – Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1336 into law this week, approving a measure to help develop a mental healthcare village in Norwalk.

Authored by Senator Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera) and championed by Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, SB 1336 will allow LA County to use vacant buildings on the state’s Metropolitan State Hospital campus to develop a mental healthcare village to provide housing and treatment to individuals struggling with mental illness.

“We are battling a mental health crisis, and we desperately need places where we can treat and house people who are struggling,” said Hahn. “These buildings are doing no one any good sitting empty. I thank Governor Newsom for signing this legislation so we can start doing the hard work converting this small corner of State property into the Los Angeles County Care Community -- a facility where we can provide humane, professional treatment to people who desperately need it.”

SB 1336 authorizes the director of the Department of General Services (DGS) to lease seven buildings that are currently unused at Metropolitan State Hospital to a nonprofit or local government for the purposes of providing housing and/or treatment to people with behavioral health needs.

The Metropolitan State Hospital (MSH) is a state-run public hospital located in Norwalk specializing in psychiatric care. The 826-bed hospital is operated by the Department of State Hospitals and has an open campus within a security perimeter on 162 acres of state property. Currently, the state hospital admits patients in four different categories: incompetent to stand trial, offender with mental health disorder, not guilty by reason of insanity, and conservatorship Lanterman-Petris-Short Act.

“Over the past decade, California has borne witness to a mental health crisis that has left many of our neighbors with mental illness homeless and on the street,” said Archuleta. “SB 1336 is a major step forward for the region by getting people the resources they need and off the street and into housing. A big thank you to Supervisor Janice Hahn and the LA County Department of Mental Health for working alongside me to ensure our region has the capacity to help meet the needs of people with mental illness now and in the future.”