Los Angeles is getting a financial boost to ensure its low-income housing doesn't crumble into disrepair. The city has secured a $500,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation – a move that Mayor Karen Bass hopes will protect residents from becoming homeless. The cash influx will help the city check up on affordable units and carve out a reinvestment plan to keep them livable.
The California Housing Partnership Corporation, backed by the Wells Fargo grant, is set to spearhead the initiative. They've partnered with the Los Angeles Housing Department and the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Homelessness Solutions, to put this plan into action. According to a statement on the Mayor's official website, the assessment aims to upgrade and maintain these units, preventing further slippage into the city's already strained housing crisis.
Mayor Bass said, "While we work urgently to bring people inside from the streets we must also apply that same momentum toward preventing people from falling into homelessness, including making sure that our older affordable and permanent housing units are in good, healthy condition." The mayor's office sees this partnership as vital for making tactical, informed choices about the city's aging housing stock's future.
Wells Fargo's Gregg Sherkin said the bank understands the significance of accessible, affordable housing, saying, “Through our collaboration with California Housing Partnership Corporation (CHPC), and the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Homelessness Solutions, we hope to identify sites in need of additional preservation to safeguard housing in our local communities."
Earlier actions by the city have also reinforced efforts to preserve housing. The City Attorney's Office intervened to save nearly 2,000 units under threat due to the disrepair of properties managed by the Skid Row Housing Trust. These units are crucial for many of LA's most at-risk residents, and this new assessment looks to preempt future crises by fixing up similar sites. The assessment and reinvestment plans are projected to finish by December 2024.
