A Miley Cyrus donation of $1 million is headed to one of the hardest places in America to find a home: Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. The singer and her mother, Tish Cyrus-Purcell, announced the pledge through the Miley Cyrus Foundation on October 10 at the Downtown Women's Center's Every Woman Housed Gala, where both were honored. The money supports Rosa's Place, a seven story building that will hold 97 permanent apartments for women and survivors of violence leaving homelessness. It arrives at a tense moment. The latest Los Angeles County count found more than 22,000 women without a home, and overall homelessness ticked up again this year. Here is what the gift pays for, who built the project, why women are at the center of it, and what has to happen before the first residents get their keys..
Miley Cyrus donation: a $1 million promise to women
Miley Cyrus has talked about homelessness on big stages for more than a decade, but her newest commitment is built from concrete and steel. Through the Miley Cyrus Foundation, the 33 year old singer pledged $1 million to Rosa's Place, a new permanent housing building rising at Fifth and San Pedro streets in the heart of Skid Row. The Downtown Women's Center, which is developing the project, says its 97 apartments will go to women and survivors of violence who are leaving homelessness. Cyrus shared the moment with her mother, Tish Cyrus-Purcell, and the two are expected to help shape the look of the building from the inside. Supporters say a single building will not solve a regional crisis, but it can change 97 lives at once. To understand why this gift matters, you have to start with the night it was announced and the neighborhood it is meant to serve..
The gala night behind the Miley Cyrus donation
The pledge was announced on Saturday, October 10, 2026, at the Every Woman Housed Gala, held at VIBIANA on South Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, according to the Downtown Women's Center's event materials. The center honored Cyrus and Cyrus-Purcell for their leadership through the Miley Cyrus Foundation and for advocacy focused on women, youth and LGBTQ communities. People magazine first reported the $1 million commitment, which goes toward the center's HOME Campaign, the fundraising drive behind Rosa's Place. Afterward, Cyrus wrote on social media that she was "Proud to have been a part of raising over $2.1 million tonight" for the organization, according to reports quoting her post. Entertainment Now reported that she told the crowd, "We have made so much progress, but there is much more to do." For the center, the night was a celebration and a reminder of how much funding is still needed.
Inside Rosa's Place: 97 homes on Skid Row
Rosa's Place is designed as permanent supportive housing, meaning residents get a lease and ongoing services instead of a temporary bed. According to IBTimes UK, the seven story building has a V shaped footprint and 97 studio apartments averaging about 296 square feet each. It is an expansion of the Downtown Women's Center's headquarters on San Pedro Street, so new residents will live steps away from the services many already use. The center says the project is being developed with GTM Holdings and Daylight Community Development, designed by Gensler and KFA Architecture, and built by United Building Company. Crews topped out the structure on July 29, 2026, the point when a building reaches its highest piece of framing. Supporters signed a staircase to mark the milestone. "Every signature placed on this staircase reflects our collective commitment to creating brighter futures," chief executive Amy Turk said in the center's announcement.
The Skid Row woman behind the name
The building is named after Rosa Arzola, a woman who lived on Skid Row decades ago. According to Spectrum News, she cooked over small fires on the sidewalk, and her friendship with a social worker named Jill Halverson changed the course of both their lives. Halverson went on to found the Downtown Women's Center nearly 50 years ago, starting with a single storefront that offered meals, showers and a place to rest. She told Spectrum News she wanted a place where women could "be safe, get something to eat, take a shower" before moving on with their day. At the time, few services in the area were designed with women in mind. Naming the new tower after Arzola is meant to keep that origin story at the center of the work. "Rosa taught me that everyone deserves to be seen, heard, and treated with dignity," Halverson said in the center's July announcement.
What the Miley Cyrus donation gives residents
The goal is not only to move women indoors but to help them stay there. The Downtown Women's Center says Rosa's Place will offer health care, case management, workforce development, trauma informed services and support for aging in place, a growing need as more older women lose housing. IBTimes UK reported that the plans also include four community rooms, a learning center, a mother's wellness area, a donation center, offices for support and property staff, and an open air courtyard on the second floor. Advocates say that mix matters. Many women arrive after years on the street, and some are fleeing abusive partners, so services on site can make it easier to keep appointments and build routines. Turk told Spectrum News the housing is meant to help women "heal from the trauma of experiencing homelessness." Those shared spaces are also where the Cyrus family's design work could be most visible.
Miley and Tish are designing the interiors
The Miley Cyrus donation comes with a personal role. According to People, as cited by several outlets, Cyrus and her mother will take part in designing the interiors of Rosa's Place. It would not be their first makeover for the center. The Downtown Women's Center says the pair launched their partnership through the Miley Cyrus Foundation in December 2024. Their first project transformed the center's Day Center, where more than 200 women and survivors of violence find safety and support each day, and they also redesigned the lobby of a residence the center operates. Cyrus has framed the work around family. "I started MCF to honor the women in my life, especially my mom and my grandma," she told Billboard, according to reports. She has also said she has "always thought of home as my safe place," a line that helps explain why housing became the foundation's focus.
How the Downtown Women's Center keeps women housed
The Downtown Women's Center is a nonprofit based at 442 South San Pedro Street. It says it serves nearly 5,000 women a year and that 98 percent of residents in the housing it operates remain stably housed, a figure the group highlights to argue that permanent housing with services works. In its July announcement, the center said it operates 119 permanent homes today and that Rosa's Place will raise the total to 216, nearly doubling its capacity. Spectrum News, citing the center, put the current figure at 151 units across the city. Either way, the new building is the biggest expansion in the group's history. The center also works with Los Angeles County's Every Woman Housed initiative, launched in 2021. As of July 2025, the county said that effort had connected 1,286 women and gender diverse people and 140 families to interim housing, with 724 individuals and 66 families moving into permanent homes.
Skid Row by the numbers behind the Miley Cyrus donation
Skid Row covers roughly 50 square blocks on the eastern edge of downtown Los Angeles, and it has the highest concentration of people experiencing homelessness in the county. Los Angeles County estimates that about 3,800 people were homeless there in 2024, and about 70 percent of them were unsheltered, meaning they slept on sidewalks, in tents or in vehicles. The county also reports that the area has its highest rates of substance use, mental health crises, HIV and AIDS, and overdose deaths. To respond, the county has a Skid Row Action Plan that adds interim and permanent housing, a safe services space, a 24 hour health and behavioral health center and a harm reduction hub. Recent buildings in the area include Weingart Tower and The Lotus. Rosa's Place joins that pipeline, but advocates note that each new building fills quickly because the need is so large.
Los Angeles homelessness rose again in 2026
The broader picture is sobering. The 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, released in late July by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, found about 73,000 people homeless across the county, up 1.2 percent, and 45,194 in the city of Los Angeles, up 3.4 percent, according to FOX 11. Unsheltered homelessness rose 3.3 percent countywide and 7.9 percent in the city. The increase followed two straight years of declines. Officials pointed to rising living costs, a growing number of people living in RVs, and cuts to short term rent subsidies, which they said meant more than 5,000 fewer people moved into permanent housing. Mayor Karen Bass blamed federal and state cuts and problems at the agency, saying, "I'm not going to defend a broken system." Statisticians cautioned that the changes are not statistically significant, but the direction worried providers.
Why the Miley Cyrus donation targets women
Women make up a large and often less visible share of the crisis. The 2026 count found 22,232 women experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County, according to Spectrum News. The Downtown Women's Center says older women are now the fastest growing group of people without a home. Advocates add that many women on the street have survived domestic or sexual violence, which is why Rosa's Place is reserved for women and survivors and built around trauma informed care. Safety is a constant concern for women sleeping outside, and shelters designed for men do not always meet their needs. Residents who have made it indoors describe the difference. Suzanne Lugo, 72, who lives in center housing, told Spectrum News that once she arrived she "felt very secure" and began rebuilding her self esteem. Turk said providers were not surprised by this year's rise, citing funding cuts at every level of government.
The 2014 moment that launched her activism
Cyrus first put homelessness in the spotlight at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. When "Wrecking Ball" won Video of the Year, she sent Jesse Helt, a young man experiencing homelessness, to the stage in her place. He said he was accepting "on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youth in the United States" and pointed viewers to My Friend's Place, a Los Angeles youth nonprofit. That night led to the Happy Hippie Foundation, which she publicly launched in 2015 to support homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable groups. According to amfAR, the foundation produced the Backyard Sessions music videos to raise money and launched InstaPride with Instagram to highlight transgender and gender expansive people. Cyrus has also served as a spokesperson for the MAC VIVA GLAM campaign, which funds HIV and AIDS work. Happy Hippie is now part of the Miley Cyrus Foundation.
Who else is paying alongside the Miley Cyrus donation
A $1 million gift is significant, but it covers only part of the cost. IBTimes UK reported a total budget of about $83.5 million for Rosa's Place. The largest single commitment listed by the Downtown Women's Center comes from the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, which is investing nearly $54 million in long term rental assistance so residents can afford their units. Other funders named by the center include Apple, Citi, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Housing Department and the county's Department of Homeless Services and Housing. Public officials have embraced the project. "Projects like these play a foundational role in ensuring its residents can heal, dream, and succeed again," Los Angeles County Board Chair Hilda Solis said at the topping out. Private gifts like the Cyrus pledge help close gaps that public dollars leave behind.
What happens next after the Miley Cyrus donation
Construction is still underway, and the apartments are not yet open to applicants, according to IBTimes UK. Turk has said the first residents should move in next year. "Next fall, in 2027, 97 women and survivors of gender-based violence will move into these apartments," she told Spectrum News. Tenants are expected to be placed through Los Angeles County's Coordinated Entry System, which matches people with housing based on need, so women seeking a unit are advised to contact the Downtown Women's Center or a county case manager. The biggest risk is money. Providers told Spectrum News they worry that funding suspensions or budget cuts could delay projects like this one. "What I know we need is to sustain our funding for permanent housing, for permanent solutions," Turk said. Meanwhile, Cyrus and her mother are expected to keep working on the interiors as the building nears completion.
Source: IBTimes UK
