Los Angeles is spending $600,000 per unit on building affordable and supportive housing for homeless residents.
By Christian Britschgi | reason
High fees, excessive regulation, and NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) opposition to new housing have contributed to Los Angeles’ worsening homelessness crisis. Those same things are now frustrating the city’s efforts to construct thousands of units of affordable and supportive housing, where social services can be offered on-site.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Controller Ron Galperin released a damning audit of the performance of Prop. HHH, a $1.2 billion bond issue passed overwhelmingly in 2016 to help finance the construction of 10,000 units of housing for homeless and low-income residents.
“More than two years after the first bond issuance and nearly three years since voters approved HHH, not one bond-funded unit has opened,” Galperin announced. “It is clear that the City’s HHH program is not keeping pace with the growing demand for supportive housing and shelter.”