As an unhoused resident in the Culver City area, Knurish Weyker’s voice shook with emotion as he spoke about what having a safe place to sleep meant to him. 

“I have a fighting chance at life,” Weyker said. “I am not just another number in the system or another statistic.”

Weyker was one of several people who spoke at the first-anniversary celebration of Culver City’s first Safe Sleep Site — known as the Wellness Village — at 10401 Virginia Avenue. It was set up on an unused city-owned parking lot with twenty transitional suite tents for unhoused guests to sleep and is equipped with around-the-clock social and supportive services.

Since its opening approximately one year ago, the site has helped 66 people and 36 people have been permanently housed according to Culver City Director of Housing and Human Services Tevis Barnes. On top of social services to help people with the various issues that keep them unhoused, three meals a day are provided along with access to important resources like showers, restrooms, and laundry services. Enrichments like basketball hoops and a large chessboard are available for those staying at the site.

The site is operated in partnership with Urban Alchemy, a nonprofit organization that helps “transform traumatized urban spaces through supportive and compassionate care.” Several members of Urban Alchemy — including those who work on-site —  were also in attendance to speak on their experiences at the site.

Urban Alchemy Chief of Government and Community Affairs Kirkpatrick Tyler reflected on the progress that had been made since the site was just an empty parking lot last year. 

“In that short time, lives have been changed and the community has been transformed,” Tyler said. “Even folks who were skeptical at the thought of the idea gave us a chance to show what was possible and began to buy in and be a part of the vision.

Culver City Council Members Albert Vera and Goran Eriksson also attended and spoke, with Eriksson praising Vera for being the champion of the site and its success. Vera praised both Urban Alchemy and Culver City staff that contribute to the site.  

“Without staff, none of this would have been possible,” Vera said. “We had an idea and a direction that we wanted to go, we turned our ideas over to staff and this is what was created.”

Vera also told Westside Voice that he understood the fears behind this and any new project in the city. He said that he has heard satisfaction not just about how the Wellness Village has turned out, but also how well Urban Alchemy has managed it in the city.

“We definitely care about all of our community, housed and unhoused,” Vera said.

Several people staying at the site — who are referred to as guests by Urban Alchemy staff — also spoke at the celebration event, thanking the staff for the care they provide and how much impact it. Weyker spoke of what he felt was his family that he never had, thanking members of staff by name while recalling fond memories with them.

“This place is so much more than what people [outside] see it as,” Weyker said. “Everybody that has been a part of this is a superhero, to say the least.”

Another guest spoke of being forced into homelessness and how important having a support system was to help rebound. Melody St. John remembered not being in the greatest place when they were invited to stay in the Wellness Village by Urban Alchemy Program Director Carrie Bell — who runs the Wellness Village.

“I am lucky that I came to this side of town,” St. John said.

Bell — who transformed herself from a formerly incarcerated returning citizen to the manager of the Wellness Village in less than five years — kept her remarks short but praised the work of the staff at the Wellness Village

“This is what it looks like when folks work together instead of against each other,” Bell said.

There are no current plans to emulate this model elsewhere in Culver City, but Vera told Westside Voice that he has had discussions with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on the topic, saying that she “fell in love with the model” and is trying to implement it in Los Angeles.

Photo of Councilmember Vera and a Sleep Safe Suite by the author.