At a gala in Los Angeles on 10 October, Miley Cyrus announced a $1 million donation to Rosa’s Place, a building of 97 permanent apartments for women leaving homelessness, including survivors of violence. The gift continues a commitment the singer began more than twelve years ago, on the stage of the MTV Video Music Awards.
Rosa’s Place, on Skid Row
The announcement came at the Every Woman Housed Gala, the fundraising evening of the Downtown Women’s Center. The Los Angeles organisation is the only one in the city dedicated solely to women experiencing homelessness. The money comes through the Miley Cyrus Foundation and will go to Rosa’s Place, a housing scheme on Skid Row, the downtown district with one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the country.
The 97 apartments will be permanent. This is not emergency shelter but proper homes, with support on site: case management, health services and help getting ready for work. The building will also include a wellness area for mothers, community rooms, a learning centre and a landscaped courtyard. According to press reports it is due to open in 2027, and it will nearly double the centre’s housing on Skid Row.
Cyrus is not just writing a cheque. She and her mother, Tish Cyrus-Purcell, will help design the apartments’ interiors. “I have always thought of home as my safe place,” she told Billboard. The point is simple: women who have often been through years of violence and instability should move into somewhere designed with them in mind.
An unapologetic fundraiser
Cyrus has supported the Downtown Women’s Center since 2024 and is honorary chair of its fundraising campaign. She holds the same role at My Friend’s Place, a Hollywood charity for homeless young people aged 12 to 25 that is preparing to open a new campus. She is frank about what the job involves: “Part of my role as Honorary Campaign Chair for both DWC and MFP is asking for money! We have made so much progress, but there is much more to do.”
The charities she works with describe steady involvement rather than a one-off red-carpet appearance. Heather Carmichael, executive director of My Friend’s Place, has called Cyrus’s support “a kaleidoscope of goodness”. The phrase is playful, but it points to something real: Cyrus has stood by the charity for more than a decade, long before celebrity philanthropy became a standard part of every star’s public image.
An evening in August 2014
To understand where this comes from, go back to 24 August 2014. That night Wrecking Ball won Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards. Cyrus did not go up to collect it. She sent Jesse Helt instead, a 22-year-old who was then sleeping rough. In front of millions of viewers he spoke about youth homelessness and pointed people to the singer’s Facebook page, which linked to a fundraiser for My Friend’s Place.
At the time plenty of people saw it as another stunt from an artist who was rarely out of the headlines. The years since have told a different story. Less than a month later, on 17 September 2014, she launched the Happy Hippie Foundation to support homeless young people, LGBTQ young people and other vulnerable groups. It is now part of the Miley Cyrus Foundation, which is behind this month’s gift.
The women the streets forget
The choice of Rosa’s Place matters. Homeless women are less visible than men, but they are especially vulnerable. Many have fled domestic or family violence, and life on the street exposes them to more of it. Places set aside for them are still scarce. A stable home with support on site offers a way out of that cycle that emergency shelters cannot.
At 33, Cyrus has been through child stardom on Hannah Montana, a long rebuilding of her public image and then the success of Flowers, which won her first Grammy Awards in 2024. Her commitment to people without a home has stayed constant throughout. What began with a speech by a stranger at an awards show is turning into 97 front doors, each with its own key.
© Photo: Raphael Pour-Hashemi - CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
