Mayor Karen Bass is pushing ahead with another piece of her homelessness playbook, unveiling plans Tuesday for a seven-story, 53-unit, fully affordable apartment building a short walk from the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center. The Barrington Avenue project is being touted by City Hall and the developer as a fast-turnaround effort that can move from announcement to active construction in unusually short order for Los Angeles.
Project Details and Partners
According to the Los Angeles Daily News, the building will pack 53 homes into a seven-story structure on Barrington Avenue, with every unit restricted as affordable housing. Developer Simon Aftalion told the crowd at the unveiling that “in just nine months the site will deliver 53 new homes built specifically for veterans,” underscoring the focus on people who have served and those emerging from homelessness.
Lourdes Castro Ramírez, president and CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, joined the announcement and framed the building as part of a broader strategy to move vulnerable veterans into permanent homes. HACLA identifies Castro Ramírez as its leader and a key player in coordinating these types of public-private housing efforts.
Where This Fits In Bass’s Housing Push
Bass has turned speeding approvals and aligning public dollars with private partners into a central theme of her homelessness strategy, and her office says that approach has pushed thousands of affordable units into the development pipeline. As outlined by Mayor Karen Bass’s office, Executive Directive 1 and related moves are designed to cut red tape so people get housed faster instead of watching projects stall for years. Supporters at the Barrington event cast the new building as a real-world example of that policy playing out on the Westside.
Veterans' Reaction
City officials leaned on personal stories to make the case. An Army veteran at the announcement credited Bass’s push with changing his life, saying he now has a stable place to call home, a moment the Los Angeles Daily News noted in its coverage of the event.
The mayor’s "House Our Vets" initiative, a recurring theme throughout the unveiling, has, officials say, already helped place hundreds of veterans and their families into permanent housing as the city tries to drive down the number of people sleeping on the streets in uniform or with military service in their past. Mayor Karen Bass’s office also points to consecutive declines in citywide homelessness under her tenure as evidence that the broader strategy is starting to move the needle.
Next Steps and Neighborhood Impact
For now, the project is still on the runway. City and developer representatives said permit and funding paths are being finalized and that a formal groundbreaking date will follow, but they did not pin down a specific start day. The site sits a short walk from the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, the federal campus at 11301 Wilshire Blvd, which the Department of Veterans Affairs has described as part of multi-year efforts to expand veteran services and housing on the grounds.
Neighbors, the local council office, and advocates will be watching closely as the Barrington plan moves from announcement to actual construction, looking to see whether this vet-focused building really arrives on the accelerated timeline City Hall is promising.
