There may be hope on the horizon for homeless residents on the far northern edges of Los Angeles County.

A combination of political will and a sense of urgency will result in the creation of as many as 327 permanent and temporary units in Lancaster that could be available as soon as March, officials said.

Officials from the city, county and organizations that provide homeless support services will break ground Thursday on Kensington Campus, at 32nd Street West and Avenue I.

“I’m very pleased to join forces with Mayor (R. Rex) Parris and our partners in the Antelope Valley and across the county in our effort to develop the most effective strategies and resources to combat homelessness in our communities,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger in a statement. “This new campus will serve as a model site providing permanent supportive housing, interim housing and supportive on-site services that will help individuals and families stabilize and exit the cycle of homelessness for good.”

Lancaster residents, who have spoken to the City Council, have expressed mixed reactions about the project.

But despite concerns, the Kensington Campus will house 50 permanent supportive units for the chronically homeless and 156 bridge housing beds for homeless men, women and children. They will receive services while they are waiting to be placed in permanent housing. During Phase 2, an additional 51 units of permanent supportive housing will be built along with potentially 70 mini-homes for additional permanent supportive housing and an Enterprise Job Creation building.

The project took eight months from the initial idea to Thursday’s groundbreaking and it will be completed in 14 months from the project’s inception– March 2019. Wah Chen, founding partner of InSite Development, said a project of this size usually takes between eight and 10 years.

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Chen said the project wouldn’t have happened without political pushing from the beginning, including support from Barger and Parris.

Residents will receive intensive services for mental health, including one-on-one therapy and group therapy, substance abuse services, crisis intervention, wellness and life skills classes and health care onsite. These services will be provided by The People Concern, one of L.A. County’s largest social services agencies.

County documents show the total cost of the project to be about $21 million. The county, through Measure H, will pay at least $7 million for the support services that will be provided to Kensington Campus’ residents. In 2016, Los Angeles County voters approved the measure, a quarter-cent sales tax that is estimated to raise $355 million a year for 10 years to help homeless people transition into housing.

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Funding for the project also came from the Community Development Commission of Los Angeles County, city of Lancaster, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and financial institutions.

Officials said there is a need for this type of housing in Lancaster.

The city’s only year-round drop-in homeless shelter closed in August due to lack of funding.

The Antelope Valley’s homeless population has its own unique set of challenges compared to other communities in Los Angeles County. On the far northern end of the county, the area is vast and sprawling between Lancaster and Palmdale and its unincorporated communities. The weather is also a challenge as there are searing hot temperatures on summer days and freezing cold nights in the winter. Some homeless residents have dug makeshift bunkers in the desert to escape from the elements.

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There was some progress made this year in reducing the number of homeless people in the region, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s annual count.

The Antelope Valley showed an 18 percent decline from 3,825 in 2017 to 3,203 this year, according to LAHSA’s data. However, 79 percent of homeless people were unsheltered as of the 2018 count. Thirty-one percent of the Antelope Valley’s homeless residents suffer from a serious mental illness, 30 percent are chronically homeless and 31 percent have a chronic illness.

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Homelessness across the county declined by 3 percent. It was the first decrease in four years.

In 2016, Lancaster voters rejected a parcel tax to generate $4 million annually for homeless services and law enforcement.

After that plan failed, Barger along with Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas authored a motion to form an Antelope Valley homeless consortium and charged it with analyzing what services are needed and propose solutions. The consortium consisted of advocates, law enforcement, government officials and non-profit organizations.

When the city approved the financing agreement with InSite Development for the project in January, the residents who spoke to the board City Council had mixed reactions. David Paul said he was proud of the city for taking on the project, while small business owner Robert Teller said the project isn’t in the city’s best interest and suggested that there were better ways to address homelessness in the city, according to City Council meeting minutes.