A taxpayer-funded luxury apartment building is reportedly set to open in Los Angeles’s Skid Row neighborhood to provide hundreds of homeless people with housing and high-end amenities.
The 278-unit, 19-story tower is going to open in a matter of weeks, and is meant to be a “self-contained environment that will insulate its formerly homeless residents from the squalor and hopelessness around them,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
WATCH — NBC: “Migrant Crisis” and Inflation Are Causing Spike in Homelessness Among L.A. Students:
The building will offer a slew of benefits including a café, courtyard, gym, art room, soundproof music room, computer room, library, and a TV lounge, according to Fox News.
A new high-rise building is set to open on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles in June.
— non aesthetic things (@PicturesFoIder) June 8, 2024
The 19-story building will serve as housing for homeless. It’ll offer amenities including a gym, cafe, and an art studio. pic.twitter.com/G0CuaBc5iK
Skid Row, located in downtown LA, is notorious for its rampant homelessness, drug addiction, and public displays of mental health issues.
The tower is one of three set to be opened by homelessness nonprofit Weingart Center, and the project is expected to cost around $165 million, according to Fox News.
WATCH — Maher: Biden Has Bad Approval Ratings Because of Homelessness, Theft:
The luxurious shelter will receive financing from the LA Housing Department, state housing funds, and $56 million in state tax credits with each unit being projected to cost around $600,000.
“We’re trying to make our little corner of the world look and feel a little better,” Weingart Center Assn. Chief Executive and President Kevin Murray told the Times.
Murray devised the plan to create the sprawling project, which will become the largest permanent housing project in the city.
There has been a nine percent year-over-year increase in homelessness in Los Angeles County, and a 10 percent rise in the city, according to the 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count.
According to last year’s data, there are 75,518 homeless people in the county, with 46,260 of them residing in the city.