Culver City Wellness Village Celebrates One-Year Anniversary
Published on August 20, 2024
In less than one year, the Culver City Safe Sleep Wellness Village, launched by the City of Culver City and operated by nonprofit Urban Alchemy, has assisted 66 people off the streets and helped 36 people find more permanent housing.
"Each person has their own story, their own needs,” Mayor McMorrin said. “We need to prioritize a wrap-around approach to addressing this crisis that provides and ensures stable housing, support services, and job opportunities as steps in helping individuals rebuild their lives. The Wellness Village is an important piece to solving these issues.”
The acclaimed Safe Sleep Wellness Village can house up to 40 people. Each individual or couple is provided their own white tent on a raised platform with a bed, storage, and a charging station for phones.
The site offers shared shower and bathroom facilities and laundry service. Guests are provided meals and services to help them get back on their feet. Each person is provided a free phone and given help recovering important documents like birth certificates and Social Security cards. They’re also offered access to medical resources, drug and alcohol addiction treatment, and more.
“The Culver City Safe Sleep Wellness Village demonstrates how powerful tent and tiny home sites can be for helping people transition from the streets back into their own homes,” said Kirkpatrick Tyler, Urban Alchemy’s chief of government and community affairs. “We hear from so many guests who tell us they aren’t prepared to be in their own apartments. They need support in a more familiar community setting before they’re ready.”
Urban Alchemy hires people with lived experience, including with long-term incarceration, homelessness, drug addiction, and mental illness, to help solve the toughest problems plaguing urban neighborhoods. They lead with empathy and understanding to heal people and communities.
The City of Culver City is focused on creating a holistic and comprehensive approach to address homelessness in our community. The City continues to support its unprecedented action toward resolving homelessness. Funding continues for the permanent and supportive housing sites at Project Homekey, Wellness Village, Motel Master Lease, the Mobile Crisis Team, and partnering with street-based healthcare, as well as offering extensive outreach services weekly.