Work has finally begun on a city-funded project to convert a decommissioned Venice hotel into permanent housing for formerly homeless individuals.
Redevelopment of the former Ramada Inn at 3130 West Washington Boulevard into housing started this week, Westside Current reported.
It comes five years after People Assisting the Homeless purchased the property with an $11 million mortgage from the city that was financed with Homekey funds, and three years after the motel was vacated after serving as interim homeless housing for a little over a year.
PATH Ventures, the entity PATH started to build and operate affordable rental homes with on-site services to support residents in regaining long-term stability, has so far secured more than $19.5 million in city, state, federal and private funding for the project.
That works out to about $300,000 per unit at the 30-key motel. A 78-unit motel in Long Beach also bought with Homekey funds recently reopened as a homeless shelter at a per-unit cost of about $294,000.
Work was slated to begin with demolition on Nov. 2.
On the docket for the Ramada site is a conversion of “transient guest rooms into light housekeeping rooms” with a change “in interior layout, new laundry rooms, storage rooms, and a patio” with “affordability per [Executive Directive 1],” records at the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety cited by the Current said. The most recent permit issued for the project was for the installation of a fire alarm system.
As part of ED1 compliance, the project must consist entirely of affordable housing. A timeline for completion has not been disclosed.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ ED1, which expedites fully affordable residential developments, was created almost three years ago. It has resulted in 29,000 approvals for fully affordable multifamily developments this year, compared to fewer than 18,000 approvals for market-rate multifamily housing.