Four developers chosen to build homeless housing in Los Angeles

The site at 11950 Missouri Avenue and City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana
The site at 11950 Missouri Avenue and City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana

Four development teams have been chosen by the city of Los Angeles to have exclusive negotiating rights to 10 publicly owned parcels for homeless housing.

Spread throughout the San Fernando Valley, Lincoln Heights, South L.A. and the Westside, the sites will house about 500 units, as part of the city’s comprehensive homelessness plan.

Three of the four chosen teams are partnerships, the L.A. Times reported. They are GTM Holdings and WORKS; L.A. Family Housing and Many Mansions; and Hollywood Community Housing Corporation and Venice Community Housing Corporation. The fourth developer is Thomas Safran & Associates.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Nearly 50 developers submitted proposals for the sites, calling for affordable, mixed-income, market-rate and occupant-owned housing alike, in addition to permanent supportive housing.

The council had the final pick on which developers made the cut, according to L.A.’s homelessness coordinator Meg Barclay.

Of the 10 parcels, two will be sold instead of developed. They are the Old Fire Station No. 5 on Manchester Avenue and Old Fire Station No. 53 on North Mesa Street. Five lots will be combined into one project in Lincoln Heights, near North Workman and North Daly Streets. The other four sites are 11681 West Foothill Boulevard in Lakeview Terrace, 200 East North Venice Boulevard in Venice, 11950 Missouri Avenue in Sawtelle and 2322 South Thatcher Avenue in Marina del Rey.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana told the Times he hopes the projects will break ground before the end of the fiscal year in June. But several of the projects could be curtailed by the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative if it passes in March. The ballot measure calls for a two-year moratorium on any project that requires a zone change, which includes some of the parcels in question. [LAT]Cathaleen Chen