LA's Project Roomkey Program Has Housed More Than 4,800 People, Officials Say (HACLA)

Date Published: 
December 5th, 2022

From NBC 4 Los Angeles:

Project Roomkey, a housing program in Los Angeles created during the pandemic, has provided permanent housing to more than 4,800 people since it began in 2020, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority announced.

The program is ramping down, with 286 people remaining in two remaining sites -- the Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles and the Cadillac Hotel in Venice -- that will shutter in February. In all, officials said the program provided shelter to more than 10,000 people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic.

While all participants will receive a subsidy, voucher or at least one offer to move into an interim housing site, officials acknowledged that finding permanent housing even with vouchers is difficult in a "challenging rental market.'' Officials have issued either a subsidy or voucher to 175 people in the remaining sites.

Doug Guthrie, president and CEO of the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles, told the City Council's Homelessness and Poverty Committee in August that it's been taking between 45 and 60 days for a voucher to be approved once a recipient finds a matching residence, which is longer than the 30 days that most landlords would typically hold spaces. He noted that Los Angeles is seeing unprecedented demand for housing, and people relying on vouchers face a particularly uphill climb.

Read NBC 4 Los Angeles' article "LA's Project Roomkey Program Has Housed More Than 4,800 People, Officials Say," featuring the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.

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