A $575,000 Homeless Unit…Why So Expensive?

The Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, addressed a small crowd this past week at the groundbreaking ceremony where a 19-story homeless housing project, consisting of 278 units, is scheduled to be built by December 2023. At a cost of $160 million, the housing project comprises 47 one-bedroom units, 228 studio units, and three units for the managers. I get that property in Los Angeles is expensive and that lumber and other construction materials are in short supply. But what I don’t understand is the absurd amount of $575,000 per unit—each homeless resident could have been given a condo to own, at a lower cost. The $160 million price tag doesn’t include maintenance costs or other support services that will be required for the homeless residents. Residences for the homeless should be transitional, safe, and functional. If LA government can’t figure out how to do that for less the $575,000 a unit, they should quit right now.