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KCRW follows the money into a city-funded homeless housing project and finds evictions, inflated costs, and an LA real estate developer with a long and troubled history. Who in city government is paying attention?
The closed down, partly renovated motel at 1906 W. 3rd Street in LA’s Westlake neighborhood long served as a place for people without much money to find shelter. And that’s what it’ll be again when its current refurbishment is done: 136 subsidized units for homeless veterans, called the West Third Apartments. This transformation of low-income housing into a different type of low-income housing has so far gobbled up more than $30 million, including $10.2 million from LA taxpayers, and isn’t scheduled for completion until next March, according to the city’s Housing and Community Investment Department.