Monastery to become Homeboy treatment facility

Current and former gang members have long come to Homeboy Industries to get their lives back on track, in part lured by their trust in Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest who founded the nonprofit nearly 40 years ago.

- BY ANDREW KHOURI

Photographs by JASON ARMOND Los Angeles Times

CARLOS Sanchez at the top of the Monastery of the Angels property in the Hollywood Hills. He has worked at the monastery for 30 years.

At Homeboy’s headquarters in Chinatown, people receive employment, tattoo removal, therapy and more. But in recent years, Homeboy said individuals increasingly arrive needing more help than the nonprofit can provide.

Faced with pronounced substance abuse and mental health problems that require supervision and a place to sleep while undergoing treatment, Homeboy had to refer those individuals to outside organizations that provide beds.

That's set to change.

Last week, Homeboy Industries acquired the Monastery of the Angels, a hidden oasis in the Hollywood Hills where cloistered Dominican nuns lived for nearly 90 years before vacating the site in 2022.

Homeboy plans to turn the 4-acre Spanish Colonial Revival property into a 60-bed community where the formerly incarcerated and gang-involved can sleep and heal.

The site, to be named Home of the Angels, will provide 50 beds for substance abuse treatment and an additional 10 for people experiencing acute mental health issues. There will also be outpatient services to treat addiction and mental health.

Boyle said that by keeping people within Homeboy for all their services, there's a better chance they will succeed.

“They'll go, ‘Oh it’s Homeboy,’” Boyle said. “They will feel seen here, just as they are” at Homeboy’s headquarters.

The Monastery of the Angels has a storied history.