A luxury new high-rise taxpayer-funded homeless shelter with apartments with skyline views, a gym and a cafe is set to open in Los Angeles — and it looks more like a hipster haven than public housing.
The 19-story tower will consist of 228 studio and 50 one-bedroom apartments, costing about $600,000 each to build. It is part of a three-building project located in the heart of the city’s Skid Row that will provide shelter and support for homeless adults. According to the Los Angeles Times.
The $165 million complex offers a wealth of amenities, including a gym equipped with treadmills, rowing machines, bikes and cable machines, a common patio area for residents to gather, an art room, a soundproof music room, a computer room, a library and a cafe.
“We’re trying to make our little corner of the world look and feel a little better,” said Kevin Murray, president and CEO. Weingart Center AssociationA representative of the nonprofit organization running the project told the newspaper.
For the homeless who are lucky enough to get a room in the tower, it won’t be hard to feel a little better.
The Tower’s fully-furnished rooms are also modern and clean, and feature single beds, microwaves, ovens, refrigerators and TVs.
On its website, Weingart boasts that the South Crocker Street building (called Tower 1) offers “quality apartment living in Downtown Los Angeles.”
The project is being funded with funds from Proposition HHH, a supportive housing program approved by city voters in 2016. According to the Los Angeles Housing Department.
The boom is also being bolstered by state housing funds and a $56 million state tax credit, according to the Times.
“Residents of Weingart Tower 1 will benefit from the Weingart Center’s on-site comprehensive support services,” the nonprofit said. “These services are specifically developed to maintain housing stability and address the health and wellness needs of residents.”
Weingart added that about 40 units have been set aside for veterans who qualify.
The tower will be a separate, sheltered environment for formerly homeless residents and is the first of three high-rises planned around the nonprofit’s headquarters, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The second tower, currently under construction, will have 302 rooms, according to the media, while the third tower, a 104-room building, is still in the planning stages.
When the first tower opens, it will be the city’s largest permanent supportive housing project, The Times reported.
“We’re not in this to make development fees, so we said, let’s just make it as big as possible,” Murray told the paper. “50 units a house isn’t going to solve the problem.”
Still, the amenities this building offers are not common in the typically bare-bones shelters to which homeless people are accustomed.
When the three buildings are finally completed, the campus will provide 700 residents with a haven from the malign influences of Skid Row, a notorious haven for the homeless and impoverished.
The paper said several activists and community leaders praised the project.
“Skid Row definitely needs more housing,” Pete White, executive director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a Skid Row advocacy group, told the paper.
“I believe this tower will fill a great housing need on Skid Row and its design shows that poor residents have value, too.”
