LA To Convert Run-Down Motels Into Apartments For Homeless Veterans

The city of Los Angeles has approved a deal that will allow nonprofit and private developers to convert “nuisance” motels into permanent, supportive apartments for 500 homeless veterans. The Free Thought Project reports: City officials consider the development a major accomplishment in the drive to create large-scale housing for the estimated 2,700 homeless veterans in Los Angeles County. The plan calls for developers to purchase crime ridden, often run down motels from private owners in an effort to convert them into efficiency apartments, according to the Los Angeles Times. It’s estimated that nationally between 529,000 and 840,000 veterans are homeless at some time during the year, and that on any given night, more than 300,000 veterans are living on the streets or in shelters in the U.S. According to the report in the LA Times: The city’s housing authority will issue vouchers funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which will cover residents’ rent and provide supportive services, including case management and counseling. Further financing is expected to come from the state’s Proposition 41, which directed $600 million in bond money to fund housing for poor and homeless veterans. The novel plan is expected to short-circuit the years of [...]