LA County and city will develop supportive housing complex in DTLA

Los Angeles County is partnering with the city to build a supportive housing facility in Downtown L.A., a move that follows an audit by the city controller detailing the failure to develop adequate homeless housing.

The County Board of Supervisors approved a $48 million plan for the 232-unit facility, according to Urbanize. The four-acre property at 1060 N. Vignes Street is north of Union Station, near the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and Twin Towers Correctional Facility complex.

In 2017, the county had planned to build a 300-car parking garage there as part of a now-scrapped expansion of the nearby jail, according to the report.

The approved plan calls for a 60,000-square-foot building constructed mostly of prefabricated modular units, according to Urbanize. Supportive services and a dining area would be housed in a separate 6,000-square-foot building. The plan includes courtyards and other green space, as well as parking.

The majority of the funding — $42 million — would come from federal coronavirus relief funds allocated to L.A. County. The remaining $6 million comes from interim housing pool funds. The city of L.A. will cover operating costs through 2025 and pay $55 per bed, per day under the county’s plan.

The county is also using federal CARES Act funds allocated to the state to purchase hotels and convert them into housing for vulnerable people experiencing homelessness.

The housing is meant to be a temporary solution to get people off the street while they find or can be set up with more permanent housing. The city has separately been developing bridge housing across the city, although not without meeting significant pushback in many neighborhoods.

Last month, city Controller Ron Galperin released an audit that found just three housing projects — 228 total units — have been completed in the four years since voters approved the $1.2 billion Proposition HHH bond act meant to tackle homelessness. [Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch