Rosa’s Place: 97 Homes for Women on Skid Row
Miley Cyrus and her mother Tish are helping the Downtown Women’s Center build a new housing development in Los Angeles for women and survivors of violence leaving homelessness. It opens in fall 2027, and it is named after a woman who once pushed a shopping cart down these same streets.
By Teona Abuladze · 5 min read
In the late 1970s, a woman named Rosa Arzola lived on Skid Row in Los Angeles and pushed a shopping cart through its streets. Jill Halverson was already working in the neighborhood, and the two became friends.
Through Rosa, Halverson saw how little Skid Row offered women. The missions and shelters had been built for men. So she opened a storefront where a woman could come in, eat something, take a shower and be on her way.
That storefront became the Downtown Women’s Center. Nearly fifty years later, its newest building carries Rosa’s name.
A building at Fifth and San Pedro
Rosa’s Place rises at the corner of Fifth and San Pedro, next to the center’s headquarters. It will hold 97 permanent homes for women and survivors of gender-based violence, with healthcare, case management and a workforce development center inside the same walls.
The apartments are designed so residents can stay as they get older. That matters here: older women are now the fastest-growing group experiencing homelessness.
The architects are Gensler and KFA Architecture. On July 29, the building was topped out, and partners signed a steel staircase the center calls “First Steps.”
“Next fall, in 2027, 97 women and survivors of gender-based violence will move into these apartments.” — Amy Turk, CEO of the Downtown Women’s Center
When it opens, the center’s permanent housing will nearly double, from 119 homes to 216.
Miley and Tish
The Miley Cyrus Foundation launched in late 2024 and began working with the Downtown Women’s Center that December. Miley and her mother visited the site together. The foundation’s first project was renovating the center’s day center on Skid Row and the lobby of one of its housing residences.
On October 10, the center honored Miley Cyrus and Tish Cyrus-Purcell at its Every Woman Housed Gala at Vibiana in downtown Los Angeles. Actress Natasha Rothwell, a longtime volunteer, hosted. That night raised more than $2.1 million for the center’s HOME campaign, the effort to build housing like Rosa’s Place.
“Proud to have been a part of raising over $2.1 million tonight in support of @dwcweb and their HOME campaign, with the vision of seeing every woman housed.” — Miley Cyrus
For comparison, the gala raised about $1.16 million in 2024.
Miley has worked on homelessness for more than a decade. At the 2014 VMAs, she sent a young man who was living in shelters to the stage to accept her Video of the Year award and speak about homeless youth in Los Angeles.
Who else is building it
A project this size takes many partners. The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles committed close to $54 million in long-term rental assistance, which keeps every one of the 97 homes affordable. California’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program put in $26.5 million. Apple, Citi, the City and County of Los Angeles and the state housing department are also funders. Daylight Community Development and GTM Holdings are the developers, and United Building Company is the builder.
Why a building just for women
On any given night in Los Angeles County, 22,232 women have nowhere to live, according to this year’s count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
Many of them are leaving violence. For a woman in that situation, a crowded mixed shelter doesn’t feel safe. Women-only housing with trauma-informed care gives her a door that locks and people trained to understand what she’s been through.
The center’s day center already serves around 5,000 women a year. Suzanne Lugo, 72, lives in one of its existing buildings. She told Spectrum News that permanent supportive housing changed her life.
Jill Halverson came back for the topping-out ceremony.
“Rosa taught me that everyone deserves to be seen, heard, and treated with dignity. To stand here today and watch Rosa’s Place rise is incredibly moving.” — Jill Halverson, founder
Teona Abuladze is the founder and editor of Shansi Magazine.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-799-7233 or thehotline.org.
Sources:
- Downtown Women’s Center, “Downtown Women’s Center ‘Tops Out’ Rosa’s Place,” July 29, 2026 — https://downtownwomenscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Downtown-Womens-Center-Tops-Out-Rosas-Place.pdf
- Spectrum News 1, Rosa’s Place report, August 1, 2026 — https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la/homelessness/2026/08/01/homelessness–los-angeles-downtown-women-s-center–california
- Downtown Women’s Center, 2026 Every Woman Housed Gala — https://downtownwomenscenter.org/2026ewhgala/
- Downtown Women’s Center, gala sponsorship deck (partnership history) — https://downtownwomenscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026-EWH-Gala-Sponsorship-Deck-4.29.26.pdf
- Downtown Women’s Center, past events — https://downtownwomenscenter.org/events-directory/
- Downtown Women’s Center, AHSC funding release — https://downtownwomenscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DWC_AHSC-Funding-press-release.pdf
- Jang, “Miley Cyrus raises massive sum to help homeless women” — https://jang.com.pk/en/74458-miley-cyrus-raises-massive-sum-to-help-homeless-women-heres-why-it-matters-news
- Fox News, 2014 VMAs — https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/mother-twerk-resa-miley-cyrus-uses-vma-speech-to-raise-awareness-about-homeless-youth.amp
