Willowbrook celebrates groundbreaking for 61 low-income homes

Getting people off the streets ...and into homes. L.A County officials had a groundbreaking Thursday in WIllowbrook for a lot they hope 61 low-income and homeless families will call home next year.

Pierre Cooper is one of the people who hopes to apply. He's been homeless for nearly 20 years and has been living in abandoned garages, various shelters and the streets.

"You try to warm up the best way you can but you can't because it's frigid and you can't really sleep especially because you get sick," says Cooper.

He prays the empty lot on WIllowbrook Avenue could one day be a place he calls home.

Cooper used to be an electrician, but an accident on the job prevents him from working.

"I fell from about 15 feet up," says Cooper.

He now battles sciatica and arthritis and says the symptoms get worse sleeping in the cold.

"I had been to shelters. Sometimes I sleep on a bus stop. I've even slept in the hospital sometimes," says Cooper.

Cooper says he's spent at least 30 nights in the Emergency Room.

The county believes people like Pierre would cost taxpayers less if they were given a home.

They hope to provide residents who move in to Mosaic Gardens with healthcare services.

They also promise a community garden for residents to grow their own food.

It's a life that for now Pierre can only imagine.

"It's been my dream. It has been my dream. And I just pray to God it will come true," says Cooper.