As the city has tried to tackle its homelessness crisis, it has explored a variety of housing interventions to get individuals off the streets and housed. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the state established Project Roomkey which created a program that provided funding to cities who rented out rooms in local hotels for homeless individualsvulnerable to COVID-19. 

 

The success of Project Roomkey led to Project Homekey, where the state provided funding to cities to acquire hotels and motels for the purpose of housing the homeless. To date, the city has leveraged over $75 million in state dollars in combination with over $118 million in local money to acquire 18 sites totaling over 1,250 units. 

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This model has been extremely successful and has allowed the city to get units online quickly and efficiently. While purchasing dozens of hotels and motels outright could be expensive, establishing a program where the city leases hotels and motels with the option to purchase them later on if necessary, could be very successful. 

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I THEREFORE MOVE that the City Administrative Officer, in coordination with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority develop metrics to determine if hotels and motels will be suitable for temporary and permanent homeless housing; and, 

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I FURTHER MOVE that these metrics specifically look at the cost per unit and the ability to turn temporary homeless housing units into permanent supportive housing units; and, 

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I FURTHER MOVE that the Department of General Services be instructed to contact all hotels and motels in the city to determine if they meet the aforementioned criteria and determine if any of them are willing to participate in a Lease to Own program, and doing so, develop a priority site list that prioritizes value for volume.