Jackie Krentzman is a Bay Area-based writer and editor.

For the last ten years, Roxy Roberson has lived in Culver City’s Rotary Plaza, an affordable housing complex for older adults and people with disabilities. A few years ago, she and other residents learned that the city was planning to build transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness directly across the street.

“About half of the residents were scared, worried that it would bring more homeless people to our neighborhood,” Roberson says. “The other half were immediately on board, because we were grateful to move tents with people living in them away from the bike and walk path along the canal, as many of us didn’t feel comfortable walking there.”

Today, Roberson and others are thrilled with their new neighbors. Residents of Rotary Plaza regularly visit Wellness Village to attend its events and invite the villagers to theirs.

“On Halloween, we dressed up and brought residents bags of treats and stayed to socialize,” she says. “People here were worried for nothing. The residents have a very low impact on the neighborhood and have become part of our community.”

The Wellness Village Safe Sleep program is one of several new sites and services for unhoused residents in this city of 40,000, named “The Heart of Screenland” as the original home for several motion picture studios. (Many entertainment companies are still based there today.) The city of Culver City’s annual operating budget for homeless services has increased from $208,000 in 2018 to nearly $16.1 million today. 

The investment is paying off. The latest Point-in-Time Count found that the number of homeless people in Culver City decreased from 229 to 105.

The village includes 20 transitional tent units, supporting up to 40 unhoused people (and their pets) with around-the-clock staffing and supportive services, including beds, three meals a day, on-site restrooms and showers, garbage and recycling collection, health care, and laundry services. Partner agency Urban Alchemy administers the site and offers supportive services, such as weekly medical checkups, counseling, AA meetings, and legal support, as well as social activities, such as bingo, game nights, movies, and yoga classes.

“We call it Wellness Village because it is more than housing — it is a place for healing,” says Arames White-Shearin, assistant to the city manager on homelessness. “For many, sleeping outside means fearing for their lives, or that someone is going to rob or attack them. At Wellness Village, they can relax and sleep well.”

Wellness Village is not the only housing initiative that serves homeless and formerly homeless residents. The city of Culver City also operates 38 interim housing units and 35 permanent supportive housing units, along with 46 units of interim housing through the Culver City Motel Lease Program.

All interim housing sites offer comprehensive wraparound services, including on-site case management and a nutrition program. Permanent supportive housing also includes case management but does not provide meals, as residents live independently in apartment-style units. Such projects are crucial, as roughly a quarter of the city’s residents are classified as low-income.

To that end, Culver City has had a flurry of planning and construction, highlighted by Jubilo Village, the first affordable housing development in the city in a decade. Slated to open in 2027, the $75 million project is being funded by a combination of grants and loans.

Currently, the city of Culver City has 649 low-income units in the pipeline, joining 3,727 market-rate units. City officials are proud of the progress made, but know they have a long way to go.

“The data is showing us these investments are proving successful in changing lives,” Mayor Dan O’Brien said. “We’re a blueprint for how other cities in California can address [the homelessness] crisis with a comprehensive approach. And we’ll continually work with our partners at the local and state levels to capture more resources to fund these remarkable programs. We’re doing the heavy lifting, and I think there are opportunities to share some of this workload financially.”

Roxy Roberson is grateful to live in a city with such ambitions, as she has seen firsthand the impact.

“The fact that I feel so safe in my neighborhood is in part because of the Wellness Village and all the staff people who are there day and night,” she says. “Not only are people feeling cared for and accepted for the first time in years, but that feeling has extended to the whole community.”