California’s battle with rampant homelessness has resulted in a homeless high-rise with jaw-dropping amenities and a rather hefty price tag.
The multi-story building in downtown Los Angeles has been eight years in the making, after voters passed Proposition HHH in 2016. A large portion of the development of the building, which comes with nearly 230 studios and 50 one-bedroom apartments, fully furnished, was funded by the proposition. Other funding includes state housing funds and $56 million in state tax credits.
INSANE: Downtown LA’s new high-rise for the homeless cost $600K per unit to build pic.twitter.com/29zYWWnYsi
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 19, 2024
According to a report from the Los Angeles City Controller in 2022, the price of just one unit can fall anywhere from $450,000 to nearly $837,000. The city has dropped an eye-popping $1.1 billion into HHH funding to back these kinds of projects, aimed at giving homeless people a reprieve from life on the streets.
A list of building amenities includes:
- heating and air conditioning
- a fitness center
- a computer lab
- laundry facilities
- a career center
- a library
- terraces with community gardens
- an art room
- a cafe
There is also an entire floor of dedicated offices for case workers providing services to the homeless, including help acquiring education and employment. Other assistance includes finance, budgeting, health, and wellness.
According to Kevin Murray, Weingart Center CEO and former state senator, 52 people have already made the move to receive services at the building, a number that is sure to climb in the coming days.
“This is not just a building,” he said. “This is about people and this is about giving people dignity… everybody deserves a good, well-designed environment.”
Weingart Center, a nonprofit based in Los Angeles, will be backing nine more buildings just like this one that will house the homeless. One located on Santa Monica Boulevard has already opened, while another is already under construction.
Transparency issues have long plagued LA spending that aims to address homelessness. As BizPac Review reported in April, an audit revealed that homelessness actually grew despite $24 billion being spent over the course of five years to deal with the issue. The LA Times reported that local spending data didn’t even exist because the state of California “failed to adequately monitor the outcomes of its vast spending on homelessness programs.”
“A new report from the California State Auditor’s Office found that a state council created to oversee the implementation of homelessness programs has not consistently tracked spending or the outcomes of those programs,” the outlet reported. “That dearth of information means the state lacks pertinent data and that policymakers ‘are likely to struggle to understand homelessness programs’ ongoing costs and achieved outcomes.”
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Sierra Marlee
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.bizpacreview.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.