Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
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. — Gothamist
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... View full entry
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
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... View full entry
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. — The New York Times
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... View full entry
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.
— Bloomberg
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... View full entry
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. — The Los Angeles Times
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. ... View full entry
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... View full entry
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 San Francisco Chronicle
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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. — The Mercury News
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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. — The Philadelphia Inquirer
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. View full entry
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.
— CBC
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
