The Los Angeles Housing Department is looking for a chunk of the state’s $2.75 billion Project Homekey funds.
The city agency recently released a notice of intent to request around $30 million from that pool, according to Urbanize.
The city would use that money for Project Homekey’s core purpose — acquire hotels to convert them into permanent and interim supportive housing. The city is eyeing three properties with 143 rooms between them.
The money comes from the federal government, but is administered by the state government.
The $2.75 billion sum is a two-year allocation. The state has billed it as part of a larger strategy to get people off the street and expand the state’s stock of housing.
Panorama Motel (Google Maps)
Project Homekey is a successor program to the state’s pandemic-era Project Roomkey program. The latter program rented hotel rooms for unsheltered people and those in particular who had health conditions making them vulnerable to Covid-19.
Project Homekey has proven more successful than Project Roomkey, which was plagued with logistical issues.
Orchid Suites (Google Maps)
L.A. has acquired 15 hotels with a total of 744 rooms across the city through the program with $120 million in funding from Project Homekey and another $60 million from other sources.
In September, city officials said they expect to buy between 500 and 1,000 hotel rooms through Project Homekey over the next two years.
The city is eyeing two hotels in the San Fernando Valley and a third in Hollywood for its latest buy.
Around $14.3 million would purchase the Super 8 Canoga Park at 7631 Topanga Canyon Boulevard. All 52 rooms at the two-story motel would be used as interim housing.
The city would purchase the Orchid Suites at 1753 Orchid Boulevard in Hollywood for $8 million and convert all 40 rooms into interim housing.
The remaining $7.7 million would buy the Panorama Motel at 8209 Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys. Similarly, all 51 rooms would become interim supportive housing.
[Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch