Lancaster Homeless Project Breaks Ground

A groundbreaking on Thursday officially started construction in Lancaster for Kensington Campus, a facility to provide shelter and services for the homeless. InSite Development LLC in Woodland Hills partnered with nonprofit The People Concern and Los Angeles County on the project expected to be completed next year on an empty plot on Avenue I. The project’s budget is about $21 million. L.A. County will pick up about $7 million for support services through Measure H, a ballot initiative approved by voters in 2016 to raise money to help homeless people transition into housing. Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris said that Kensington Campus lays the foundation for a permanent solution to homelessness. “We are grateful to have the support of so many outstanding organizations to help make Lancaster a better place for those in need of housing and a fresh start in life, as well as creating a replicable model for other municipalities to alleviate homelessness,” Parris said in a statement. Kensington campus is designed to mimic an Italian village with buildings surrounding a courtyard. When completed, it will have 102 units of permanent supportive housing, bridge housing for 156 individuals, 20,000 square feet of support service space and a 12,000-square-foot enterprise job creation building. The People Concern, in Santa Monica, will provide the social services and resident support. According to the most recent homeless count, the Antelope Valley has a population of 3,203 people without permanent homes, an 18 percent decline from the 3,825 people counted last year.