Archinect - News

Kadre and Lehrer Architects team up for a new transitional housing community in Los Angeles

2024-01-04T12:50:00-05:00

A new supportive housing concept in Los Angeles has been introduced by LA-based practices Kadre Architects and Lehrer Architects. The design teams shared it can become a new model for design resourcefulness and occupants’ dignity at a time when the city, as do many others in America, faces a desperate need.

The new 95-unit Cypress Park New Beginnings Community was inaugurated in early December after first breaking ground in May of 2022. The new housing scheme aimed to serve “displaced populations and environmental and/or socio-economic crises.”

Image courtesy of Kadre Architects.

Their brief called for the construction of 350-square-foot micro-housing units on a disused plot between the Arroyo and Golden State Parkways. Site conditions for the 35,000-square-foot development were extremely challenging in an echo of Lehrer’s previous work on the Tiny Homes Villages in different parts of Los Angeles.

Image courtesy Kadre Architects.

Faced with this challenge, the design team responded ...

NYC’s housing chief resigns amid concurrent homelessness and affordability crises

2023-05-24T17:50:00-04:00

New York City’s Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz is set to leave her post in the Adams administration by early July, she told Gothamist, leaving open a critical role tasked with overseeing the city’s response to its growing housing and homelessness crises.

Katz told Gothamist the job was both “frustrating” and a “real sprint.” She is credited with overseeing the beginnings of New York Mayor Eric Adams’ first housing plan as well as streamlining several key projects involving supportive and transitional housing during her 16-month tenure.

The city’s shelter system swelled considerably in 2022 while an influx of newly arrived migrants complicated efforts to provide beds for those most in need. This came at a time when rents across the city have soared past pre-pandemic record highs in nearly every borough. New Yorkers are currently experiencing homelessness at a rate of 1 per every 120 persons, according to The Bowery Mission.

The Mayor's office has yet to name a replacement for the position.

San Francisco could axe tiny homes proposal over cost concerns and NIMBYism

2023-02-21T13:21:00-05:00

The drama over the project provides a window into just how hard it is for the city to scale up its housing and shelter system, even as a recent report from the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) estimated it would take more than 6,000 extra temporary and permanent beds to solve the crisis on the streets. It also puts into sharp relief how easily neighborhood opposition can derail a project, even when the funding and space is available — and the need is clear.

The Mission district parking lot is scheduled to become an affordable housing development with construction beginning in 2025 and the tiny homes program was expected to fill the gap. “It's always the same hand wringing,” housing advocate Sam Moss told the Chronicle. “It’s never about taking care of our homeless, it's always about how you're going to feel about what it's like to see homelessness.”

San Francisco’s desire to essentially segregate homelessness is part and parcel of previous policies such as the deeply criticized Homeward Bound bussing program enacted by Gavin Newsom during his tenure in City Hall. In total, the city has seen a decline of 15% in its homeless population since 2021. A total of 3,810 units are still projected to be needed in order to match the current demand.

Mayors across U.S. voice their struggles in tackling housing crisis and homelessness

2023-01-20T12:29:00-05:00

Mayors across a variety of American towns and cities have used the U.S. Conference of Mayors to voice concerns about their ability to address the dual crises of housing affordability and homelessness. As reported by Politico, specific struggles shared by mayors include attracting investors, housing density, and racial disparities.

“At the end of the day, as mayors, people aren’t looking to their senators to solve homelessness,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed told the conference in Washington, D.C. “They’re not looking to their state legislators to solve homelessness. They’re looking to their mayor.”

Meanwhile, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney warned that “parasitic” investors, who either undervalue or abandon properties, exclusively operate short-term rentals, flip homes, or price individual families out of the housing market, are having a detrimental impact across the city, including in low-income an...

LA Mayor Karen Bass announces first round of reforms aimed at expediting the construction of affordable housing

2022-12-20T17:24:00-05:00

New Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass is wasting no time dismantling the regulatory process that’s long been held up as the source and exacerbator of the city’s intertwined homelessness and affordable housing crises.

Declaring that the “time for useless regulations is over,” Bass went to the construction site of the new 49-unit Boyle Heights Lorena Plaza development last week to announce an executive directive mandating all city departments involved in the review and approval of new housing and shelters to complete their portion of the process within 60 days.

The directive will also waive the discretionary review process of all developments not requiring zoning changes. These types of developments are often curtailed to 49 units or less in order to get under the review and public hearing process, which requires all developments of 50 units or higher to be subject to them. According to reporting in the LA Times, there are currently 31 projects in the city that will be affected by the ch...

An underutilized hotel retrofit offers inside view of LA homelessness crisis

2022-12-15T14:28:00-05:00

The historic hotel, with its haunted reputation and 600 rooms, reopened in December 2021 as a privately funded permanent supportive housing project. With most of the rooms reserved specifically for those in the bottom 30% of the area’s median income, it’s open to any [...] with a government-funded voucher. Many viewed the project as a promising new model in L.A. because of its size and flexibility. And yet, a year later, two-thirds of the Cecil remains unoccupied.

The rare privately-funded $80 million conversion project for the influential Skid Row Housing Trust is one of many case studies on the issue of vacant single-room occupancy (SROs) in Los Angeles. The city housing authority’s Section 8 director thinks an absence of in-unit bathrooms and kitchenettes is to blame for the empty rooms at the Cecil, but bureaucratic hold-up and a lack of coordination between disparate agencies that serve the vulnerable is the primary factor that’s causing the project to fall short of its weekly move-in targets by 66%.

Soane Medalist Peter Barber on some possible fixes to the UK's housing crisis

2022-11-11T11:22:00-05:00

There is no housing shortage. There are over 400,000 empty homes in the UK, and about 200,000 homeless people. The vast majority of empty homes are in parts of the country which have become depopulated because of economic decline – in the Midlands, the north, and coastal cities. So the solution to the housing crisis isn’t building tons of homes. It’s about reviving the economy in those places, launching a massive retrofit campaign, and bringing people back.”

“We could end the housing crisis overnight, if we wanted to,” Barber told Oliver Wainwright in a recent interview, referring to the private grab on council housing that has developed unabated since the Thatcher administration's Right-to-Buy laws came into effect in 1980. “We should introduce private sector rent controls, halt the selling of council houses under right to buy, and build 150,000 council homes a year funded by direct taxation."

An open letter to LA's next mayor outlines 10 proposals to speed up the production of affordable housing

2022-09-30T13:20:00-04:00

The Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA|LA) has released an open letter to mayoral candidates Rick Caruso and Karen Bass suggesting 10 fixes to zoning requirements and the approval processes that would positively impact citywide efforts to tackle an ongoing housing crisis that has taken center stage ahead of the November election.

Echoing the tone of a recent LA Times op-ed, Koning Eizenberg principal and AIA|LA Government Outreach Committee member Brian Lane wrote on behalf of the organization, saying that, as the system is currently arranged, there are "a thousand ways to 'no.'" Their letter claims that city bureaucracy gets in the way of the design community's efforts and that production can be significantly increased via the proposed set of solutions.

"Dear Mayor," the text begins. "It takes about $600,000 and 5 years to build one affordable housing unit. That’s one person or family moved off the streets of over 69,000 experiencing homelessness in LA...

Is 'Yes, in God’s Backyard' the answer to California's housing challenges?

2022-09-28T12:40:00-04:00

Houses of worship in California are now in the position to take on the state’s largest social problem with the adaptation of new legislation that allows for housing development on plots that are, in almost every case, zoned exclusively for commercial use.

In July, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that dropped a zoning requirement that mandated a certain number of parking spaces if the religious organization would build 100% affordable or workforce housing on its property. Obstacles remain, but case studies from Berkeley and other embattled communities have provided some examples of how the measure can positively stem the tide of displacement that has particularly affected people of color and other marginalized groups.

"Churches are some of the last, I think, property owners of color throughout Berkeley," local church leader Derrin Jourdan told KQED recently. "If we don't find ways of leveraging our support, we're going to find it enormously difficult to hold on to the property."

...

LA County may soon have a new dedicated agency to address its affordable housing woes

2022-08-30T10:00:00-04:00

The ongoing housing crisis in Los Angeles County may soon become the subject of a new dedicated government agency after the California State Assembly voted on Wednesday to approve SB 679.

If signed into law, the bill would authorize the county to create an entity called the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (or LACAHSA) that seeks to address the crisis through a consolidated approach the bill’s author, Democratic State Senator Sydney Kamlager, described as “clear, focused, [and] integrated” when compared to the current system’s diffuse and ineffective nature.

A recent LA Times editorial op-ed mentioned that the bill was amended to include provisions for union contractors in line with the city’s Project Labor Agreement as well as an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which is often used cynically as a means of preventing such developments. The editorial also pointed out that funding for the agency, to which the bill allocates a tota...

New England's first LGBTQ-friendly senior affordable housing development breaks ground in Boston

2022-06-27T14:12:00-04:00

A Boston development that’s billed as New England’s first LGBTQ-friendly senior affordable housing project broke ground Friday. The Pryde will convert the former William Barton Rogers Middle School in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood into 74 units of mixed-income housing for seniors.

The project is being led by developer Pennrose and local nonprofit LGBTQ Senior Housing, Inc. Boston-based architecture firm DiMella Shaffer carried out the facility’s design.

The development will maintain the original 1899 building, which has been vacant since 2015, and its two additions constructed in 1920 and 1934. The design includes multiple spaces for community programming, such as an art room, a classroom, an art gallery, and a multi-purpose room. The project also features a landscaped courtyard, a walking track, and outdoor seating. The exteriors and interiors will be renovated with materials and details in line with the school’s original character.

As noted by LGBTQ Senior Housing, there has always been a need for LGBTQ-friendly housing as seniors of this community are less likely to have children or a family network to support them. Funding for the project includes $3.8 million from the state Department of Housing and Community Development and $4 million from the City of ...

First phase of mixed-use affordable housing development atop former juvenile detention center site opens in the Bronx

2022-06-22T15:11:00-04:00

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced the completion of the first phase of a five-acre redevelopment project called The Peninsula. The project will bring hundreds of affordable homes and community amenities to the former site of the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in the Bronx’s Hunts Point neighborhood. It is the site where Adams was held at 15 years old.

In 2011 the detention center was closed after 54 years in operation, and was notorious for its poor conditions. Today, the initial $121 million phase of the mixed-use development has been completed, including 183 affordable units for New Yorkers earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income, with 18 homes specifically reserved for individuals who previously experienced homelessness. In addition, the building features a range of amenities, including a community room, a children’s playroom, a fitness room, and bike storage space.

The development includes a cultural arts center with a state-of-the-art black ...

University at Buffalo students are constructing tiny homes to fight homelessness

2022-06-20T13:55:00-04:00

Students from the University at Buffalo have embarked on the construction of three tiny homes to help combat homelessness. Led by Brad Wales, a clinical assistant professor at the university’s Department of Architecture, the initiative forms part of a design-build program within the school called the Small Built Works Project.

Tilt House render. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo

The process began with students designing prototypes for tiny houses, which were developed into permit-ready construction documents for three homes in Syracuse, New York. Construction on the homes began in June 2022, and are expected to be completed by June 2023.

Passive Solar House render. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo

For Wales, the project is the latest of dozens of projects undertaken in the Small Built Works Project’s 21 year history, which has secured nine building permits to develop and install public benefit projects across Buffalo. The program has been focused on affordable housing sinc...

Drury architecture students build homeless shelter that plays on light and color

2022-05-17T11:54:00-04:00

Architecture students at Drury University have unveiled a new shelter designed and built to aid the homeless community in Springfield, Missouri. Situated at the Revive 66 Campground, a local site offering nightly stays for unhoused people, the project is designed to offer a more spacious alternative to the teardrop trailers predominantly used in the grounds.

Photograph by Traci Sooter FAIA

Outside, the shelter’s exposed timber structure and cladding are brought to life by a multicolored window forming a second skin around the patio. Inside, the cabin is designed with a full-sized bed to accommodate couples and enable ADA-compliant accessibility for wheelchair users. Heating is provided through an electric radiant floor system, supported by highly-insulated walls, floors, and ceilings.

Photograph by Traci Sooter FAIA

“The structure honors the role of community in helping to provide dignity for those that so often encounter the indignities of poverty and homelessness,” said Traci Soote...

The debate around tiny homes for the homeless has inserted itself into L.A.’s mayoral race in a big way

2022-03-28T20:19:00-04:00

At a time when permanent supportive housing takes years to build and the average cost per unit has climbed to nearly $600,000, the cost of these tiny homes came to about $68,000 each, or roughly $35,000 per bed, according to De León’s office. In his speeches, De León likes to ask, “in what parallel universe” is it better to leave people on the street than move them into various forms of temporary housing while awaiting more permanent housing?

LA Times columnist Steve Lopez visited the second-newest in a string of tiny home developments opened in November in a space that had previously been sparsely used as a parking lot for the Eagle Rock Recreation Center and co-owned and operated by the city, county, and utilities giant SoCal Edison. At 224 beds, it is reported to be the largest of its kind anywhere in the United States and was proceeded by four similar Lehrer-designed projects across northern Los Angeles, all of which are run by a local charity called Hope in the Valley.

A frequent criticism lobbed at the mayoral frontrunner Kevin de León echoes a debate within the architectural community as to whether or not such a confined (each cabin is only 64 square feet) and, in the case of the Arroyo Seco Tiny Homes, shared space truly aligns with a humane vision of housing justice championed by de León an...

New York City to prevent homeless people from sheltering in subway stations and trains

2022-02-19T09:00:00-05:00

Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Friday a sweeping plan to deploy teams of police officers and social workers into New York City’s subway, pledging to remove homeless people who shelter on trains and platforms, some of whom have contributed to escalating violence in the system.

According to the new plan, the police will have a direct mandate to enforce rules against lying down, sleeping, occupying more than one seat, littering, aggressive behavior towards riders, smoking, and open drug use. In addition, mental health professionals with the power to order involuntary hospitalization of people they deem a danger to themselves or others will be mobilized.

“No more just doing whatever you want,” said Mayor Adams at a press conference at the Fulton Street subway stop Friday morning. “No, those days are over…The system was not made to be housing, it’s made to be transportation.” The measures come following a spike in violent crime in the transit system, with riders saying it has led them to avoid the subway.

As noted by The New York Times, the plan lacked details on where evicted homeless individuals would immediately go. There was also little information on the cost of the plan and how it would be paid for.

Sacramento is considering a law to guarantee housing as California's homeless population grows

2021-11-20T10:00:00-05:00

This idea was met with skepticism and didn’t move beyond the whiteboard. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation creating a right to housing, saying he worried it would be too expensive. During that time, Steinberg continued chewing on the idea, looking at places such as New York City and Scotland for ideas on how to enact legislation that would compel government to act and aid homeless people.

California is home to more than one quarter of the nation’s homeless population. If approved, the law would guarantee the right to housing with a dual “obligation” that requires the individual to accept whatever living situation is offered. The law would take effect beginning in 2023.

Sacramento has pledged $100 million over the next two years to help combat the issue, although some community organizations view the Steinberg plan as too “vague” or even a front that will help clear out encampments that it considers unsightly.

“Where will they go? What will be offered to them? Who will and how will they be compelled to move,” local nonprofit leader Joe Smith told the LA Times. “Let’s start with a plan to build homes.”

University of Kansas students converted shipping containers into housing for community shelter guests in need of quarantined spaces

2021-11-10T19:46:00-05:00

As part of a program at the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Design, a cohort of students retrofitted twelve shipping containers to serve as private housing for homeless people during the pandemic.

The project, located at Kansas’ Lawrence Community Shelter, is called Monarch Village. It was established in response to the need for adequate quarantine spaces for its population when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020. The initiative is part of the non-profit Studio 804, a comprehensive design-build program offered through the school where graduate students design and build a LEED Platinum project. Monarch Village is the studio’s sixteenth.

According to Studio 804, the dwellings offer much-needed privacy for families while allowing guests access to services at the shelter. It is hoped that this project will be a precedent to move away from housing the homeless in gymnasium-like rooms full of bunk beds, an arrangement that makes isolating impossible.

Construction on th...

Los Angeles is turning to Lehrer Architects' Tiny Homes in its fight to construct transitional housing

2021-11-02T18:06:00-04:00

With expediency in mind, Los Angeles is looking to adopt a successful blueprint to solve the growing number of large homeless encampments that have been cropping up in the city since the beginning of the pandemic last spring.

Silverlake-based Lehrer Architects is expanding on its award-winning design for transitional housing thanks to another commission from the city’s Bureau of Engineering — now the firm's fourth collaboration.

Image courtesy Lehrer Architects

Lehrer’s Chandler Tiny Homes Village in North Hollywood won an AIALA Design Award this year with a village that became a beta design for the agency. Its polychromatic format has been repeated in a new development called Whitsett West.

Image courtesy Lehrer Architects

Los Angeles is facing rising numbers of homelessness in a year that saw citywide efforts to rehouse a record number of people. The city currently is looking to build no less than 255,000 units of affordable housing by the year 2029 and may look to bridge the serv...

Hostile Architecture is making more and more people uncomfortable

2021-10-18T10:32:00-04:00

Lately, though, I’ve found myself sitting on a lot of cramped metal benches of the kind that don’t invite you to linger long, or harsh concrete ones that leave you cold. That’s because public seating is becoming an endangered species. If a park bench is not being removed, the backup plan is often to make it uncomfortable. “Hostile architecture” — an urban design strategy intended to impede “antisocial” behavior — is proliferating all over the world.

Cities like San Francisco and Boston have quietly removed seating over the last decade in misguided efforts to curb outdoor sleeping. Interventions like sleep-preventing benches and other forms of cruel deterrents aimed at the homeless population have spilled over into the public sphere.

Recently, the Seattle Art Museum stirred some backlash by installing defensive architecture on its campus as part of an upgraded security plan authored by director Amanda Cruz. Activist collective Design as Protest won this year’s Design Trust for Public Space RFP competition with an initiative that looked to create an alternative to the policies. Other groups have taken measures into their own hands. The New York Times’ Jonathan Lee offers a defense of public seating here.

UCLA’s BruinHub will give respite to students facing long commutes and housing insecurity

2021-09-24T11:43:00-04:00

The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, in collaboration with cityLAB, has officially opened the BruinHub, a first-of-its-kind space serving UCLA students facing long commutes or housing insecurity. Located in the John Wooden Center, the BruinHub will be a 24/7 space with facilities for students to nap, rest, study, store belongings, and wait out traffic.

BruinHub launch, September 23rd, 2021. Image courtesy of UCLA

The design of the BruinHub centers on Study Pods; prefabricated units constructed from machine-cut OSB and finished with vibrant-colored fabrics. Each pod contains a flexible bench which can be used for sleeping or studying, as well as a worktop, reading lamp, storage space, and power outlet. The wider facility also includes WiFi, charging stations, a food prep station, personal storage, and a hub for distributing important campus information and services. The hub has been designed to meet COVID-based safety standards for sanitizing and social distancing.

Video...

San Francisco is adapting the tiny home approach to city's largest encampment

2021-09-22T17:40:00-04:00

The cost of up to $1.7 million for building and installing the cabins, along with the dining and other facilities, will be paid for by the nonprofits DignityMoves and Tipping Point Community. The cabins will remain for 18 months, when the lease the city signed for using the parking lots as outdoor shelter spaces runs out.

The 64-square-foot cabins are produced by LifeMoves, a Silicon Valley-based company responsible for the installation of a similar development in nearby Mountain View in 2016. Neighboring Oakland has operated its own cabin site since 2017, albeit with mixed results for residents who have found themselves back on the streets long-term.

San Francisco’s move comes a bit late, however, as COVID-related fears have deemed the crowded shelter system a non-starter for many. Other cities like Los Angeles have invested in the tiny homes movement, which is being seen as a popular solution to a crisis at a time when encampments sanctioned by municipal governments are popping up increasingly throughout the state. More than 40% of America’s homeless population lives in California alone.

The new approach certainly constitutes a change from San Francisco’s previous initiati...

A homeless encampment is growing on Apple's future North San Jose campus

2021-08-10T17:56:00-04:00

A large homeless encampment is growing on the site Apple earmarked for its North San Jose campus, two years after Apple made waves with a $2.5 billion pledge to combat the Bay Area’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis.

Campers appear to have migrated from the nearby Mineta San Jose International Airport, which the city began clearing in late June at the urging of the FAA. Apple bought parts of the 55-acre site in North San Jose in early 2018 and currently holds no publicized plans for its development.

Nearly half of the U.S.'s homeless population lives in California alone. The state has been tragically unable to address the issue impactfully for the past two decades as rising home prices and a paucity of affordable housing are steadfastly combining to make matters worse. San Jose Spotlight has more on development issues at the site here.

States are being pressured to act as the CDC-backed eviction moratorium ends

2021-08-03T16:46:00-04:00

The eviction system, which saw a dramatic drop in cases before a federal moratorium expired over the weekend, rumbled back into action Monday, with activists girding for the first of what could be millions of tenants to be tossed onto the streets as the delta variant of the coronavirus surges.

The White House is now pushing for states and cities to use some of the billions in coronavirus funds still being held up. Representative Cori Bush of Missouri has been sleeping on the Capitol steps since Friday to raise awareness. Renters in states like New Jersey and Massachusetts have more time and resources compared to southern states, which already have fewer protections. Nationwide, more than 3.6 million people are facing eviction according to a recent census.

Some landlords are having difficulties finding a solution. Officials in Chicago are leaning on a little-used legal aid service to help stem the tide from the “tsunami of evictions” expected after September 1st. 500,000 New Yorkers are facing eviction, too.

The Wall Street Journal has more on the looming crisis here.

7 steps for ending homelessness proposed by AIA Los Angeles

2021-06-30T12:30:00-04:00

The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles (AIALA) has published a set of strategies urging LA city leaders to tackle the city’s homelessness and affordable housing crisis. The“House All Angelenos” Call-to-Action urges officials to adopt seven strategies aimed at accelerating the construction of affordable homes, and facilitate a more diverse, resilient housing portfolio for the 66,000 residents that lack adequate shelter in the region. The strategies encompass changes to zoning, subsidies, definitions of dwellings, and requirements for developers to provide affordable housing in new developments.

"On a daily basis, architects create supportive, affordable, and market-rate housing throughout the Los Angeles area. It is our responsibility to share the expertise we have garnered with our region at this time of crisis," says AIALA President Wade Killefer, FAIA. “While these strategies lead to housing for those currently without, they also elevate life for all Angelenos. They imp...

Lehrer Architects converts vacant lot into colorful tiny home village for the homeless in North Hollywood

2021-02-11T11:56:00-05:00

The Chandler Boulevard Bridge Home Village, designed by Lehrer Architects and the Bureau of Engineering (Engineering) for the City of Los Angeles, has recently opened to its first residents in North Hollywood. Working in collaboration with various city agencies, Lehrer Architects converted an abandoned and overlooked infill lot into a colorful Tiny Home village of 40 individual shelters.

Built in a mere 13 weeks, the new project serves as a beta for the City, and provides an efficient provision of "bridge" shelter for people on their way to permanent housing.

"...the Bureau of Engineering was able to use our extensive experience to make the new, tiny home concept a reality," said Gary Lee Moore, City Engineer and General Manger of the Bureau of Engineering. "We were able to overcome numerous challenges in this first-of-its-kind facility, coordinate with numerous other departments and deliver the facility in record time. We are extremely proud of our work on the Chandler Tiny Home Vi...

Suman Sorg, FAIA forms non-profit design firm to promote social justice through architecture and design

2021-01-28T11:10:00-05:00

Award-winning architect and designer, Suman Sorg, FAIA, founder of Sorg Architects, has formed the non-profit design firm, A Complete Unknown, in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to promote social justice, peace, and unity through architecture and design.

"At this stage in my career, I have turned my sights to projects that advance the basic tenants of humanity, such as compassion, love, and a pledge to nonviolence towards all– humans, animals, and nature," said Sorg, in a statement. "Washington, D.C. – being at the center of the federal government – allows us to play a critical role in affecting and informing policy. There is so much that each of us can do using our energy, experience and talent to support those at risk, both locally and around the world."

Sorg has over 30 years building a successful architectural practice. Some notable projects include the John and Jill Ker Conway Residence for formerly homeless veterans, and the Southern Regional Technology and Recreation Center i...

232-bed development for the homeless in Los Angeles completed in under five months

2021-01-26T18:43:00-05:00

When the last touches of landscaping are done next month, the 232-bed Vignes Street development will have shattered the axiom that homeless housing takes years to build and is exorbitantly expensive. From start to finish in under five months and at a cost of about $200,000 per bed, it has shaved years and hundreds of thousands of dollars off a traditional homeless housing project.

The project, delivered in collaboration with Bernards, a design and construction firm; VESTA Modular, a national modular construction company; and NAC Architecture, is a mix of both permanent and temporary structures and will be used for housing and shelter.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "The two main buildings, constructed of once-used shipping containers, will have 132 units of permanent housing. The trailers, each divided into five units, will be for interim housing. The administrative building will house dining facilities, laundry and support services such as case management and counseling to serve both the permanent and interim residents."

Additionally, "The modular construction kept the basic cost to just over $86,000 per bed for the main buildings and $50,000 per bed for the trailers. Exterior elevators, the administrative building and site preparation, including removal of underground gas tanks, brought the total to $48 million, or $206,000 per unit, not including the ...

Los Angeles bets on tiny homes to battle enormous homelessness crisis

2020-12-14T14:15:00-05:00

At the city’s first tiny home village, scheduled to open in January, each of the 39 closet-sized homes is costing $130,000, about 10 times what some other cities are spending. Five more villages are planned to open later.

LA Times Senior Writer Doug Smith reports on the progress, and higher-than-usual costs, of erecting tiny home villages in a City of Los Angeles effort to take on its ballooning homelessness crisis.

"Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the program in March," writes Smith, "signaling that the concept of sheltering people in tiny homes, long neglected in Los Angeles, had emerged as a leading strategy in the city’s response to a federal lawsuit alleging it has done too little to get homeless people off the streets."

New Initiative matches homeless people with unused addresses in UK

2020-10-26T11:39:00-04:00

Developed by British architect and former Archinect school blogger Chris Hildrey, ProxyAddress recently announced the start of its pilot in the London borough of Lewisham today. The service uses the duplicated address details of existing homes to provide those facing homelessness with a consistent, secure, and free address which they can use to access the support they need.

Mayor of Lewisham Damien Egan said of the project: "I’m really proud that Lewisham will be the first local authority to trial this new service, which will make it much simpler for homeless people to access the services they need to get back on their feet.

"With the government having ended its ban on evictions, the pilot couldn’t be happening at a more important time and I’m pleased that Lewisham will be leading the way on tackling homelessness and inequality."

ProxyAddresses are provided with explicit consent from property owners - including councils, housing associations, housing developers, private donations, ...