Two Westside-area hotels included
By Dolores Quintana
The City of Los Angeles has announced that the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) has approved the purchases of a number of new properties to be used as interim and supportive housing on the Westside through Project Roomkey. Los Angeles County has also announced their purchases of properties on the Westside through the same program.
Project Homekey is a program of the State of California that allows cities and counties to purchase already existing properties or ones that are in the process of being built, like small hotels and motels, to turn them into interim and permanent affordable housing.
The City of Los Angeles and HACLA purchased a total of 16 different properties, which translates into 1,276 units, in different parts of the city. These properties are being purchased with $508 million dollars of state and local funds for a per unit cost of $398,000. The purchases include 6531 S. Sepulveda Boulevard in Westchester which is a former Extended Stay America hotel. The hotel is being purchased for $52.5 million and includes 133 units. The sale is expected to close in June of 2022.
The County of Los Angeles has announced the intended purchases of nine projects, some of which are still in development and some that are already existent properties through Project Homekey and the state program’s $1.45 billion in grant money. LA County and their partners plan on acquiring the following property on the Westside to add to the supportive and interim housing available to the County to help those in need.
LAX Suites at the corner of Aviation and 119th Street in the unincorporated area called Del Aire. This property is close to the C Line Aviation/LAX station and it would provide permanent supportive housing. At 19,500 square feet, the LAX suites would provide 48 units of supportive housing.