Archinect - News

Paris' hostile Olympics architecture worries Los Angeles advocates ahead of 2028

2024-08-12T20:02:00-04:00

"I haven’t seen anything quite like this," says Jules Boykoff, a professor and former professional soccer player who studies the impact of the Olympics on marginalized communities. "Typically, hostile architecture is more subtle."

The worry that Los Angeles may attempt a full-scale homeless 'cleansing' ahead of the 2028 Olympics has always been present as the statistical realities make too apparent: At least 75,000 people currently live without housing in L.A. County. Now, the task for their advocates is to buck trends that already started in London in 2012.

The Reddit group r/HostileArchitecture has been roiling by images of a ‘LEGO-like’ concrete obstacle in the Saint-Denis Canal that could, regrettably, become a staple. California has been pushing encampment sweeps more aggressively in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling in late June.

The New York Times gets inside the debate on ‘tiny homes’ and LA’s fight against homelessness

2024-06-24T15:13:00-04:00

“The city of Los Angeles has worked very hard to brand these as tiny homes as if they are a housing solution, which they absolutely are not,” said Shayla Myers, a senior attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. “In reality, these are tiny sheds.”

Firsthand accounts of what it’s like to live inside one of the eleven tiny home villages scattered across parts of the San Fernando Valley and northeast LA often underscore their value as bulwarks against unsheltered homelessness in the city. Feedback from on-site mental health professionals also is underreported and left out of the debate surrounding their existence. Still, the need for shelter weighted against the reluctance to add density and public pressure on the issue makes their existence a necessity as a dearth of more permanent solutions abounds.

Shipping containers rise to form Lorcan O’Herlihy's new supportive housing development for South LA

2024-06-21T17:02:00-04:00

A new supportive housing project in Los Angeles for developer Holos Communities completed this month by Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA) that will serve as a tool in the city's uphill climb on the homeless crisis has opened amidst a wave of proactive movement on the issue meant to restore the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in search of dignity and a place to call home.

The design for Isla Intersections Supportive Housing and Paseo reused shipping containers to create 54 new units of housing integrated into the area’s transportation networks and replete with a healthy amount of greenery, greywater irrigation, and gardening amenities that establish it as a “living lung” in the middle of a heavily-trafficked neighborhood known widely for having an industrial character and the highest rates of unsheltered homelessness in the city.

Image: Eric Staudenmaier

The Isla was developed on a triangular lot adjacent to the 110 and 105 freeways in South LA and resolved the rather dif...

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.

White House announces All In initiative on homelessness nationwide

2022-12-23T15:15:00-05:00

In an effort to combat the crisis of homelessness nationwide, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced its new All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and Homelessness aimed at the "bold but achievable goal" of reducing the country’s unhoused population by 25% by the year 2025.

The plan expands on a slate of "proven" evidence-based strategies (including, most especially, the so-called "Housing First" model) and will allow states to set their own goals within the timeframe and use the White House’s blueprint as a guideline.

"My plan offers a roadmap for not only getting people into housing but also ensuring that they have access to the support, services, and income that allow them to thrive," President Biden said at the announcement. "It is a plan that is grounded in the best evidence and aims to improve equity and strengthen collaboration at all levels."

According to the White House and the D...

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%.

Bike racks are now being used as hostile architecture in Portland, Oregon

2022-06-17T20:06:00-04:00

On Wednesday, a reader shared with the Mercury a photo of 22 newly-installed single U-shaped bike racks on one block along the eastern sidewalk of NW Broadway. The city's homeless encampment reporting system shows that members of the public have repeatedly reported campers on the sidewalk that's now dotted with bike racks […] The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), which regulates sidewalk use and bike rack installation, said the new racks were completely off their radar.

Bike racks have also been deployed in Seattle to prevent tent encampments after that city’s campaign of police sweeps, which have been mirrored recently by its smaller Pacific Northwest neighbor. The owner of the vacant property adjacent to the racks is himself the developer of an adaptive reuse scheme that transformed a disused former city jail into a private shelter called Bybee Lakes and has lobbied in the past for the removal of encampments downtown, according to the Mercury.

Portland’s growing number of unhoused citizens has been victimized recently by the city’s installation of more common forms of hostile architecture as part of a $44 million public safety spending initiative passed in late November. Three months later, a damning report revealed that Portland’s former mayor Sam Adams (now one of Mayor Ted Wheeler’s top advisors) had been floating an eight-page proposal to warehouse the unsheltered population into three massive semi-temporary facilities operated using soldier...

NYC Mayor Eric Adams pushes plan to convert underutilized hotels to shelter unhoused New Yorkers

2022-05-02T15:31:00-04:00

In an effort to confront the city’s ongoing homeless crisis, Mayor Eric Adams stood alongside elected officials and union members to support a plan that would clear the streets and subways, and put a near-record number of unhoused New Yorkers into underutilized hotels.

Adams is supporting state bill S.4937/A.6262, which would make it easier for the city to convert underutilized hotels into affordable housing. According to city officials, this work would come at two-thirds the cost of new construction and could create 25,000 beds.

Mayor Adams has been active in his handling of New York’s homelessness issue recently, which was evident in his controversial push to clear hundreds of homeless encampments. This was followed by his administration’s proposed $171 million investment in homeless services that would help fund specialized shelters.

Previously on Archinect: New York City to prevent homeless people from sheltering in subway stations and trains

As reported by Gothamist, the money to carry out the bill is available through $100 million from the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act, which was passed last year to pay for hotel-to-apartment conversions. An additional $5 billion that was set aside in Adams’ budget for capital funding to build more ...

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.

California is running out of options in its mounting student housing crisis

2021-12-21T09:00:00-05:00

For many students, the nostalgic stereotype of sharinga utilitarian dorm with a new roommate or splitting a cheap off-campus apartment is an unattainable scenario. According to a 2020 report from UCLA, 1 in 5 community college students, 1 in 10 California State University students, and 1 in 20 University of California students experienced homelessness that year.

California, which has become ground zero for the affordable housing crisis in America, has been boosting college enrollment (with some exceptions) resulting in separate 16,000-person-long waitlists across two systems for available space in dorm facilities which have added some 35,000 beds since 2015.

A dearth of student housing is the main reason behind the controversial Munger Hall proposal at UC Santa Barbara. Other campuses are instituting rentable sleeping pods for those facing long commutes to and from their universities. The crisis has, in particular, affected a terrible toll among first and second-year undergraduates in the state that increasingly don’t come from secure financial backgrounds.

“I made it through the system,” Long Beach City College Interim President Michael Muñoz, who was himself a victim of housing insecurity when he was younger, explained to Bloomberg. “I feel guilt, because a lot of my peers who couldn’t get through community college had the same life exp...

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.”

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...

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...

UC Berkeley revises proposed People's Park housing scheme as Chancellor promises to accommodate its unhoused population

2021-09-01T16:48:00-04:00

An amended plan for new student housing at the University of California, Berkeley has been announced amidst protests surrounding the development that have touched on issues related to the state’s ongoing housing crisis.

Local outlets are now reporting that the planned dormitory in People’s Park will be reduced to 12 stories and moved to direct more sunlight onto the city’s landmark First Church of Christ, Scientist, which was designed by prominent Arts and Crafts Movement architect Bernard Maybeck in 1910.

The housing development as viewed from Dwight Way. Image courtesy LMS Architects / Hood Design Studio via UC Berkeley.

University Chancellor Carol Christ said the revised double-winged scheme will still be able to accommodate approximately 1,100 residents (down from the original 1,200) and that the school will wait until it can comply with demands of protesters before it breaks ground on the new housing complex.

Students gathered last week at the park’s iconic Sather Gate to prot...

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.

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...

Affordable housing complex by Eric Owen Moss Architects gets approval in Venice

2021-06-02T17:09:00-04:00

A proposal to build dozens of affordable apartments near Venice Beach has been approved, following a vote taken by the Los Angeles City Planning Commission.

Image: Eric Owen Moss Architects

After a long and contentious public hearing on May 27, the Commission voted to approve the construction of the Reese Davidson Community. The $75 million project is a collaboration between the Venice Community Housing Corp. and the Hollywood Community Housing Corp. It would rise from the site of two current parking lots that flank Venice’s Grand Canal and would consist of a low-rise complex containing 140 apartments, approximately 7,400 square feet of commercial space, and a 360-car parking garage for both residents and visitors. The Reese Davidson Community will house formerly homeless and low-income individuals, as well as some work and live spaces for low-income artists and support staff for tenants. A coffee shop on the ground floor and a 3,000-square-foot performance space and community room w...

New Philadelphia park will be designed for, and together with, homeless people

2021-03-22T16:28:00-04:00

Plans are underway to start building in 2022 a pocket park where people experiencing homelessness will not only be welcome but will also be asked to design and build aspects of the space. It’s the only project of its kind in Philadelphia, say design professionals involved in the project.

Supported by a grant from the William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia's largest homeless shelter, the Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission, aims to plan and build the small pocket park near its facility on North Pearl Street.

Toronto tries to force vigilante carpenter to cease building shelters for the homeless

2021-02-26T11:09:00-05:00

The City of Toronto is asking a court to order a local man to stop building small wooden shelters for the homeless. The city filed an injunction application on Feb. 12 against Khaleel Seivwright, a carpenter who has been building small structures for those living outside. The city wants an order that permanently stops Seivwright from placing or relocating structures on city-owned land.

According to CBC, Seivwright's shelters are in numerous parks across the city. The carpenter has been building the tiny structures since last fall and has raised over $200,000 on GoFundMe for materials.

In a February 11th post on his GoFundMe page, Seivwright wrote: "I'm makin this post to let you all know that we have stopped building Tiny Shelters but will continue to do maintenance and relocating of shelters as people staying outside get into housing."

The hearing date for the city's injunction has not yet been set.

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, ...

Lehrer Architects-designed Aetna St. Bridge Home opens in Los Angeles

2020-08-13T12:56:00-04:00

Lehrer Architects' latest project, the Aetna Bridge Home was opened this week by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as part of the city's A Bridge Home initiative. The design team converted an under-utilized quarter-acre parking lot into a vibrant 70+ bed facility for homeless Angelenos. With a tight timeline, the complex was designed in a mere three weeks and built in only four months.

"For us, projects like this are exhilarating," said Michael Lehrer, FAIA, Founding Partner of Lehrer Architects in a statement. "Political, time, and cost constraints were severe—demanding extreme design discipline and chops. Our focus was to honor, nurture, and restore a modicum of wholeness and delight to our fellow our citizens without homes."

Lehrer and the team worked closely with multiple city agencies led by the Bureau of Engineering and the Department of Public Works. One of the most intense constraints for the project was the mandated use of pre-fabricated trailers, a stipulation that forced th...

Berkeley to open municipally-owned homeless encampment

2020-01-27T13:55:00-05:00

The Berkeley City Council has voted to create a new city-run homeless encampment to help provide a safe and clean place for some of the city's unhoused residents to live temporarily.

According to a report from Curbed, the measure was supported by a majority of the City Councilmembers and will bring wind-resistant tents, bathroom facilities, and trash collection services to a yet-to-be-determined city-owned site. The services are set to be administered by city employees and is billed as a "stopgap" measure to help establish a certain level of cleanliness and safety for these types of camps while other permanent and transitional housing facilities get under way across the city.

According to the report, the temporary facility would be able to accommodate 50 residents for "less than a year."

The nearby city of Modesto launched a similar effort in 2019 that contains roughly 150 tents located underneath a bridge in the city, The Modesto Bee reports. The facility there is operated by a ...

Trump administration to help L.A. homelessness efforts. But there's a catch

2020-01-17T11:29:00-05:00

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told Mayor Eric Garcetti in a letter last Thursday that Trump officials are prepared to offer Los Angeles an array of resources, including emergency healthcare services and federal land. However, Carson also suggested in his letter that the government expects changes from L.A. in how it manages homelessness...he wrote, “the city and county of Los Angeles must partner with our efforts and make necessary policy changes.”

The offer follows recent talks between senior Trump administration officials, Mayor Garcetti and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, reports the Los Angeles Times. It includes potential provision of emergency healthcare services, supplemental emergency shelters and transitional housing, federal land, assistance for law enforcement and "voucher utilization support," writes Times reporters Dakota Smith, Benjamin Oreskes, and Noah Bierman. Moreover, Carson outlined a number of stipulations, including reallocating funding, "empowering and utilizing local law enforcement," and reducing regulations to expedite the construction of affordable housing.

"Housing First" policies help Finland rein in homelessness

2020-01-13T19:56:00-05:00

In Finland, the number of homeless people has decreased significantly. The reason: The country applies the "Housing First" concept. Those affected receive - without prerequisite - a small apartment and advice. 4 out of 5 affected people create the path to a stable life. And: It is cheaper for the state than homelessness.

While local and federal governing bodies across the country have tried to implement plans to "end homelessness" with little in terms of success, something seems to be working in Finland.

According to a report by Kathrin Glöse of Kontrast, "in 2008 the Finnish government adopted a new policy for the homeless: it implemented the 'Housing First' concept. Since then, the number of people affected has dropped sharply."

For those unfamiliar with the "Housing First" concept, Glöse summarizes the policy: "[Housing First] reverses the traditional homeless help. It is often the case that those affected are expected to find a job and free themselves from mental problems or addictions. Only then will there be help in finding an apartment."

She continues, "'Housing first', on the other hand, is the other way around: homeless people get an apartment - without a requirement. Social workers help with applications for social benefits and are the contact for problems. In this new, secure starting po...