Better Angels Proposes Profitable, Taxpayer-Free Building

A tech entrepreneur-backed nonprofit is hoping to introduce a first-of-its-kind homeless housing model that would be both affordable and profitable.

Los Angeles-based nonprofit Better Angels, co-founded by software developer Adam Miller, has announced plans to build 212 affordable units and a medical office building on a Los Angeles Metro-owned property at the corner of Wilshire and Crenshaw Boulevards, The Los Angeles Times reported. It’s one of seven homeless housing nonprofits, such as Abode, PATH and Bridge Housing, that is bidding to build on the property.

What makes Better Angels’ proposal different is that unlike the other bidders’ proposals, which rely on tax credits and other government grants, Better Angels will supply 30 percent of the capital as equity, and pay for the rest using conventional loans. It hopes the process will allow it to build faster and at a lower cost than typical affordable housing projects.

Better Angels is purportedly aiming to show that it’s possible to pay for affordable housing without taxpayer subsidies, according to the L.A. Times.

“The goal is to show the way to make money doing affordable housing because we believe that … the only way you are going to solve the affordable housing crisis is by letting capitalism work,” Miller told the Times.

Miller has a $300 million investment fund ready to go in an effort to attract for-profit developers away from the luxury market and simultaneously help small-scale developers take on projects beyond duplexes and accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

At the same time, Better Angels is bidding on a project to redevelop a former Kaiser Permanente building in Pasadena. The proposal includes both housing and a mental health services center with a mix of 300 market-rate, affordable and supportive housing units for formerly homeless people.

Better Angels could also move into the student housing market using the same model. The company has submitted a bid in a Los Angeles Community College District competition for proposals to produce student housing. If chosen, Better Angels would build a 54-unit apartment building near Sunset Junction in Silver Lake for Los Angeles City College students.

— Chris Malone Méndez