Lent 2026
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Since 1988, current and former Los Angeles gang members have been transforming their lives through Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, recovery, and re-entry program in the world. Founded by Jesuit Fr. Gregory Boyle, who came to know and earn the trust of gang members and their families when he was an East L.A. pastor and jail chaplain, Homeboy serves thousands each year from its headquarters in L.A.'s Chinatown. The nonprofit offers employment, therapy, tattoo removal, and other services on a drop-in basis.
But there is a growing need for something more. Many who come to Homeboy are homeless or precariously housed. And helping heal addiction and mental health issues requires the safety of a place to sleep and 24-hour supervision. Homeboy refers people to other programs with beds when possible. Now, however, they are looking to provide those beds themselves.
Home of the Angels
On February 6, Homeboy Industries announced the acquisition of the historic Monastery of the Angels in the Hollywood Hills. Plans are to convert it into a 60-bed facility for those whose recovery from gang life and incarceration needs a caring place to land. Outpatient services will also be available.
“The antidote to addiction is community,” Fr. Greg told the Los Angeles Times. “That’s what we are always trying to foster.” He noted that having a continuity of trusted care will increase chances for success.
“They’ll go, ‘Oh it’s Homeboy,’” Boyle said. “They will feel seen here, just as they are” at our headquarters.
The facility, funded by the California Department of Health Care Services, will be called Home of the Angels. Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse will partner with Homeboy to run the site, which is scheduled to open at the end of 2027.
Peace and pumpkin bread
The Monastery of the Angels was founded in 1934 by L.A.'s first order of cloistered Dominican nuns. On land in Hollywood's Beachwood Canyon, purchased with the help of wealthy Catholic donors, the nuns used funds raised by local Catholic women to build a Spanish Colonial Revival cloister, chapel, and office complex. Surrounded by walking paths and peaceful views, the monastery drew a close community of Catholics and neighboring residents who joined the nuns for prayer and worship. Greater numbers came to visit the monastery, breathe in its meditative atmosphere, and purchase the pumpkin bread the nuns baked.
By 2022, the Dominican community could no longer support a presence at the monastery. But the order still wanted a say in the property's future. As the Los Angeles Times reported:
Sister Joseph Marie of the Child Jesus, who is prioress of the Dominican Sisters of the Monastery of the Angels, said in choosing whom to sell the site to, the nuns “felt a deep responsibility to entrust it to a steward whose mission reflected our own values.”
“In Homeboy, we recognize an ally who honors the spirit of this place and will carry its legacy forward as a refuge of care, restoration, and hope,” she said in a statement.
Although residential treatment centers notoriously face opposition from neighbors, Fr. Greg hopes having the nuns' blessing -- as well as Homeboys' reputation for safely managed programs -- will be reassuring.
"A dream come true"
The walking paths will remain part of Home of the Angels, as will the pumpkin bread -- which Homeboy, known for its bakery employing former gang members, will continue to make available for sale. The Homeboy recipe of education, healthy living classes, and other group activities will also be part of the residential experience. The goal is to develop what Fr. Greg calls "radical kinship," an accompaniment he defined in a September 2025 speech to the Boston College School of Social Work as
... the practice of entering into relationships with people — particularly those on the margins — not to save or fix them, but to be transformed by their presence, wisdom, and humanity. It’s about building a community of kinship where divisions dissolve, he said, mutual belonging is fostered, and both parties are continually renewed through authentic connection.
"This is a dream come true," Inez Salcido, Homeboy's director of recovery and wellness and herself a former gang member and addict, told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s really exciting to see how this is going to take off and grow.”
