Plan to turn South LA parking lot into homeless housing moves forward

A motion put forth by Los Angeles City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson could help push forward the sale or long-term lease of a South LA property just east of 88th Street and Vermont Avenue to a local nonprofit that would develop housing for the homeless on the site, reports Urbanize LA.

The nonprofit, Community Build Inc., has been around since 1992, emerging in the wake of the riots that same year.

The proposed project in the Vermont Vista neighborhood would have 62 residential units. The site is currently a surface parking lot. According to the motion, “the Project is currently included in HCID’s Managed Pipeline and scheduled to apply for Low Income Housing Credits in July 2017.”

“Taking control of the property would allow Community Build to facilitate the financing” of the homeless housing project, says ULA.

According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s most recent count, the number of people who are homeless in Los Angeles jumped 11 percent. There was an even bigger increase—21 percent—in the number of people who are are living without shelters (e.g. living on the streets or in cobbled-together shelters). In Harris-Dawson’s Council District 8, the number of homeless people was just shy of 1,500 last year, according to LAHSA’s website.

• South L.A. Paking Lot to Become Homeless Housing [ULA]
• Homelessness in LA Seems More Common Because It Is [Curbed LA]