LOS ANGELES — For years, a flower mart operated out of the three-story, tinted glass building at Fourth and San Pedro streets in downtown Los Angeles. But the business closed just as the population of skid row boomed.
On Friday morning something new blossomed there: the Ron Beasley Wellness Center, a drop-in center that will provide free mental health services for homeless people and low-income residents.
Homeless advocates and elected officials say the services are desperately needed for people struggling with addiction and mental illness — and who have little or no access to the treatment that might get them off the street.
