The Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department is heading up the homeless housing construction and Rushmore Cervantes, general manager, says that the city would like to see projects produced at a lower price point but that many of the costs are outside of the city’s control.
City officials say that the high costs of construction in Los Angeles are due to factors such as costly land, shortages of construction workers and materials as well as a building boom in condos and high-end apartments.
Ballooning costs
The costs to build apartments for the homeless have ballooned to almost $700 a unit. Apartments in Koreatown are being built at a projected cost of $690,692 for each unit. Two other projects in pre-approval are expected to go over $700,000 per unit in total costs. Next year a few low-income senior citizens and some homeless citizens will receive keys to 72 units at Vermont Apartmentsin the heart of Koreatown with an onsite gym and a large open courtyard exclusively for residents.
