About 8,000 frontline homeless workers in Los Angeles County work to help unhoused clients find permanent housing. Lack of childcare and daycare makes it especially difficult for parents to secure stable housing. A former Denny's in Reseda has been converted into a licensed daycare and early childhood education facility adjacent to the Woodlands, a former hotel turned 100-unit, 400-bed transitional housing site for families. The preschool and community center is a $3 million renovation that held an opening celebration in early August and will begin operations in September. The Betty Bazaar Center fills a critical childcare gap and supports single parents pursuing recovery and housing stability.
The preschool and community center-a $3 million renovation project which just held an opening celebration in early August and will begin operations in early September-fills a void in most homeless housing and service centers. Services for children and families remain very hard to come by, preventing many single parents and families that are unhoused from transitioning to a more stable and secure housing situation. The Betty Bazaar Center is the first state-licensed childcare center to open adjacent to homeless housing.
According to a 2023 statewide survey in California by the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, roughly 7% of participants were adults in homeless families, typically with one child with a median age of 7. Ken Craft, CEO of Hope the Mission, a nonprofit that operates 33 housing shelters in and around L.A., and worked with Childcare Resource Center (CCRC) to staff the center adjacent to the Woodlands, said kids in this situation experience real hardships.
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