Motel Conversions Are Proving to be a Viable Solution to Housing the Homeless
In the midst of a housing crisis, Los Angeles city government and developers of supportive and affordable housing have found a quicker fix to for housing projects.
The City of Los Angeles has found a new solution to providing housing for the homeless. Developers are looking to old motels and hotels as spots to convert into supportive housing for people in need.
“It’s not a perfect solution but given the crisis were in, it does save time, and it does save costs,” says Mercy Housing vice president of real estate development, Ed Holder.
With an influx of the homeless population in Los Angeles, the need for housing is urgent. According to an annual count conducted by Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), homelessness increased by 23 percent. About 50 percent of the housing units provided to the homeless are permanent supportive housing and developers have found what seems to be an ingenious response to providing even more.
Motel and hotel properties provide the opportunity to house multiple people in a faster more efficient matter and are complete with on-site services to ensure the support needed for formerly homeless tenants who face issues like mental illness, addiction, disabilities and unemployment.
The LA City Planning department is working on an ordinance to streamline the process of conversions by amending certain zoning and coding restrictions. The proposed ordinance states that “the adaptive reuse of hotels and motels presents an opportunity for a cost-effective and expeditious strategy to expand the City’s supply of Transitional and Supportive Housing.”
One organization taking a lead in LA conversions is Step Up, which began as a mental health program and later saw the need to add permanent support housing to its services. Todd Lipka, president and CEO of Step Up, says that motels are good conversion projects for developers who want to get housing built quickly.
"To do a housing development can take five years from the very beginning of acquisition to until when people move in. That’s a long time,” he said.
Lipka says that for people who are formerly homeless, a studio is ideal and “motels sort of naturally lend themselves. It’s not new construction. You could rehab them fairly easily. So, a motel is literally a studio that just needs to be adapted to have a kitchenette.”
Conversions aren’t simply about the constructive renovations. Providing affordable housing for homeless people requires the combination of housing with on-site supportive programs and services. The permanent supportive housing model is long-term unlike transitional housing and temporary shelter.
Step Up has converted several former motels in Santa Monica, Hollywood and Los Angeles into permanent supportive housing. The organization uses the “housing first” model which approaches the needs of homeless individuals by housing them as soon as possible and then providing the necessary services to aid them in building life skills and remaining off the streets.
These motels being converted aren’t the commercial Motel 6 and Comfort Inn type of spots. They are low-income, mom-and-pop motels that are older, and usually have pre-existing problems with crime and nuisance to the area.
Some residents in supportive housing say it is difficult to live with others who have severe mental disabilities. Lucas Bennett is disabled and was homeless prior to receiving housing at Michael’s Village, the Step Up site on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood that was once a bed-bug infested, nuisance motel in Hollywood.
“I’m not sleeping outside of somebody’s house or business. I got a shower every day. It’s not hot or cold at night anymore because of air conditioning,” says Bennett, who has lived at Michael’s Village for over a year now. He is grateful to not be on the streets anymore, but says it is sometimes difficult to live with people who are more severely ill or drug-addicted. Lipka agreed that it is difficult for many tenants to deal with other mentally ill tenants, and it just takes time.
“I could see the issue might be with some of the other tenants, there’s some issues and you’re talking about people who have not lived in that environment in a community setting,” says Lipka, who reinforced the fact that Step Up sites have managers there five days a week to monitor and address all needs and issues of the tenants.
Prior to the conversions, original tenants of motels also faced some challenges.
Most of the motels being converted are what Ed Holder, Mercy Housing vice president of real estate development, calls “last-resort housing”. Mercy Housing is a group that works to provide supportive and affordable housing to people in need, across the country. Holder says the first barrier in development is the fact that there are usually people who are already living in motels and hotels, usually temporarily until it’s time to pack up and find another transient motel with low rates and no leasing requirement.
“That’s one of the bigger challenges in these, is how you will transition those for whom this is their home out and find them stable housing as you are trying to bring in those who are most desperate for housing, in fact [who] are homeless, and provide supportive housing for them.”
Developers team up with agencies that provide a list of homeless people with the highest and most urgent needs for housing to select tenants for their developments.
Another common issue developers face with motel conversions is community opposition. Many residents don’t want homeless people in their neighborhoods because the association of violence, drug-use and other public safety issues that tend to arise in homeless populations.
“Even if you force it in, it’s not going to be a good long-term relationship,” says Lucy Liou, a Temple City resident of 18 years and board president of San Gabriel Valley Concerned Residents.
Liou and other Temple City residents organized the group in May when they heard Mercy Housing was planning to purchase Golden Motel in their suburban neighborhood 15 miles east of LA. Golden Motel is a one-star Yelp-rated motel used mainly as transient housing for lower income families and individuals. Mercy Housing was going to purchase the property and convert 169 units into permanent supportive housing for veterans, disabled people and mentally ill individuals.
“Golden Motel probably was the biggest bombshell that hit our community,” says Liou. She and other members of the community say they have seen an influx of homeless people in Temple City prior to the proposed Mercy Housing development.
“If you want the community members to accept it whole-heartedly with open arms you need to give them something that can ensure them you don’t have to worry about the safety of your homes, [and] you don’t have to worry about your kids,” says Liou.
The Mercy Housing project in Temple City did not go through because of competition with other buyers with offers and Mercy Housing was unable to secure land use approvals soon enough. Neither the San Gabriel Valley Concerned Residents group or Mercy Housing say that the residents’ opposition was instrumental to the failure of the proposed project, but it is undeniable that the group of residents brought awareness to their cause. The situation is the perfect example of a NIMBY perspective, which stands for “not in my backyard.”
What Holder says gets missed in the conversation is that “homelessness and the housing isn’t necessarily something that can only or should only happen in a particular part of the city…. There is not one single site or area that is the best, we have homeless throughout LA County,” Holder says.
Lipka of Step Up also states that community involvement is key. Lipka says one of his organizations biggest projects, Step Up on Vine is in very close proximity to two schools and still received support from residents. He says developers need to have a citing plan from day one.
“As soon as we owned the property, we had flyers ready and I as a CEO I walked the neighborhood and talked with neighbors about this project,” says Lipka. Part of the success of Step Up on Vine is due to the communities’ support. Lipka says there used to be an X-rated film theater next door to the property. “People don’t want housing for homeless individuals but if you’re going to take out a motel that has prostitution, drug-use and an X-rated movie theatre, actually we’re embraced to some extent.”