LA Received $86.5M for 500 Homeless Tiny Homes for Homeless: Not a Single Unit Bought 18 Months Later

Los Angeles has a massive deficit.  It has an extremely large homeless and illegal alien population.  The State cannot show how it spent $24 billion.  LA took $84 million for tiny homes—and that has not been spent.

“In the Westside Current’s ongoing investigation into these failures, particularly the thousands of unoccupied homeless housing units, we look at a signature program from Governor Gavin Newsom. In two rounds of funding from a state program called the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) initiative, the state allocated two rounds of funding, each amounting to $1 billion. Within these allocations, the City of Los Angeles was granted approximately $144 million to address homelessness. 

In March 2023, the governor announced the release of an additional $1 billion through a fourth round of HHAP.  The money was intended to help cities rapidly provide transitional housing for thousands, including the deployment of 1,200 units of “tiny homes” statewide. LA received an additional $86.5 million in this round, mostly to purchase and install 500 tiny homes throughout the city.”

With the number of homeless growing, the city has not spent a dime on the homes it was supposed to buy.  Now you know how mismanaged LA has become.

LA Received $86.5M for 500 Homeless Tiny Homes for Homeless: Not a Single Unit Bought 18 Months Later

Chris LeGras, Jamie Paige, Westside Current,  6/13/24  https://www.westsidecurrent.com/news/la-received-86-5m-for-500-homeless-tiny-homes-for-homeless-not-a-single-unit/article_d9c43434-2902-11ef-9ce8-c7267c7c121e.html

•  
• LOS ANGELES – One of the great challenges in understanding the failures of the City and County of Los Angeles and the State of California to effectively address the homelessness crisis is identifying the full panoply of funding state, county and city agencies have brought to bear, and the myriad public agencies involved.

In the Westside Current’s ongoing investigation into these failures, particularly the thousands of unoccupied homeless housing units, we look at a signature program from Governor Gavin Newsom. In two rounds of funding from a state program called the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) initiative, the state allocated two rounds of funding, each amounting to $1 billion. Within these allocations, the City of Los Angeles was granted approximately $144 million to address homelessness. 

In March 2023, the governor announced the release of an additional $1 billion through a fourth round of HHAP.  The money was intended to help cities rapidly provide transitional housing for thousands, including the deployment of 1,200 units of “tiny homes” statewide. LA received an additional $86.5 million in this round, mostly to purchase and install 500 tiny homes throughout the city.

In addition to LA’s allotment, the distribution included 350 tiny homes for Sacramento, 200 for San Jose, and 150 for San Diego County.

“All different types of housing — small homes, motels, hotels, and more — are needed to urgently confront this crisis,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at the time. “This housing will help us bring more people inside, which is what our city needs right now. Thank you, Governor Newsom, for locking arms with Los Angeles.”

Under the strategy, the State would purchase the homes and the California National Guard would assist in preparing and delivering them to cities, “free of charge and ready for occupancy.”

Despite the enthusiastic announcement and an emergency order from the Mayor at the time, tangible progress on the tiny home initiative has been elusive. As of the end of May, not a single home has been constructed.  The only tangible progress the city has made is submitting a list of potential locations for the housing units to the state.

In a statement, Bass told the Current, “The City has been working diligently to evaluate potential sites, coordinate relevant departments and prepare plans that were submitted to the State at the end of May. All proposed projects require City Council approval and the Mayor’s Office is coordinating with council offices for each site.”

Another expensive boondoggle

According to the California Grants Portal, HHAP was created “for the purpose of organizing and deploying the full array of homelessness programs and resources comprehensively and effectively, and to sustain existing federal, state, and local investments towards long-term sustainability of housing and supportive services.”

The State currently is accepting proposals for a sixth round of HHAP.

In his March announcement, Newsom emphasized that he was “challenging the status quo” and implementing “new approaches” to solve the dual crises of housing and homelessness, with a focus on greater accountability. “Small homes are cost-effective and can be quickly deployed to move people from homeless encampments into housing,” he said.

Experience is proving otherwise.

The ownership and operation of the tiny homes, as well as housing placement and provision of services, are the responsibility of local governments. This arrangement was meant to maximize the use of existing state funds already allocated to local entities, ensuring a coordinated and effective approach to addressing homelessness.

The tiny homes program has presented many challenges. One of the biggest problems is identifying available parcels of land big enough for the tiny homes “villages.” Private property owners frequently are reluctant. That leaves the City with the option of transforming public spaces like parks and transit parking lots, taking them offline for use by the general public.

The city is not new to the process of integrating tiny homes into the urban landscape. In fact, LA is home to one of the state’s largest tiny home villages. Alexandria Park, in San Fernando Valley currently has 103 tiny homes serving as transitional housing for the homeless.

That same year, the Veterans Campus in West Los Angeles began implementing Small Pallet Shelters for homeless veterans. Individual units offer basic amenities like beds, mini fridges, heating and air conditioning, fire and life safety equipment, and WiFi. The initiative was launched by the Veterans Affairs of Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, which installed over 140 shelters in its Brentwood area campus. Each unit, cost about $10,000 to construct and $40,000 all-in.

Kam Valgardson, the owner of Irontown Modular, one of six manufacturers the State selected to produce the units, told Cal Matters last month that the company is “absolutely shocked” to not have received any orders.

The Current’s series illuminates a stark and troubling disconnect between the allocation of funds for homeless housing and their actual deployment, exposing how bureaucratic inertia is stymieing progress. As our investigation reveals, while significant resources have been earmarked to reduce homelessness, bureaucratic delays, mismanagement, and alleged corruption have obstructed the effective use of these funds. This dysfunction unfolds as an average of five people a day die on our streets.