More housing has opened for people living on the streets of L.A., but this latest project is NOT part of Mayor Karen Bass' Inside Safe program.
Over the past couple of years, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) has purchased 40 buildings across the city, and they have plans to build 2,500 units of permanent housing.
The state becomes the landlord of these properties, and as HACLA President and CEO Douglas Guthrie tells KNX News' Craig Fiegener, a significant upside is the state-owned properties accept Section Eight housing vouchers, which many landlords have a history of refusing.
While standing outside HACLA's new 85-unit build at Pomeroy and Soto near Holland Beck Park, Guthrie said, "...increasingly we're trying to have a bridge from Inside Safe, which is getting people out of encampments into interim housing as a pathway to permanent housing. Our goal is to make this the pathway."
The cost to build the housing was $413,000 per room, much of it coming from state money and some grant money.
State Senator Alex Padilla told KNX News that those brought off the streets by Mayor Bass' Inside Safe program will need additional support down the road.
"They may have other needs, whether it's mental health needs, whether it's job training needs, whether it's other types of support to help maintain that longer-term situation and not fall back right onto the street," said the senator.
He believes his Housing For All Act of 2023, which focuses on providing more long-term support for the homeless population, is the way to do it.
Padilla is supporting $2.5 billion to buy numerous properties across California and convert them to housing for the elderly and low-income tenants in Los Angeles.
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