A new high-rise residential tower for the homeless that cost $600,000 per unit to build opened Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles.
Local ABC affiliate KABC-7 reported:
There are 278 units in the 19-story development known as the Weingart Tower. It’s intended to help people currently without shelter on Skid Row and it will be L.A.’s largest permanent support housing project.
The building will have an entire floor of offices for case workers, in addition to a list of impressive amenities: a gym, art room, music room, computer room and library.
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It’s considered affordable housing, but the cost to build this type of project still adds up. Each unit costs nearly $600,000 and it’s being funded by taxpayers.
The cost to build each unit in the homeless high-rise is higher than the median price of a condominium in Los Angeles, which was $564,520 at the end of 2023.
The median listing price for a single-family, detached home in Los Angeles was higher, at $1.3 million.
Los Angeles has tried to fight homelessness over the past decade and-a-half by passing a series of tax hikes and taxpayer-funded initiatives that have failed to stop the growth of the homeless population.
Critics say that providing benefits to the homeless — such as apartments or hotel rooms — creates new incentives for homeless people to migrate to the city and the state.
