A historic Craftsman home in Koreatown was converted into a 19-unit affordable housing development for veterans while preserving its street-facing facade. The $16 million project officially opened Monday.
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Hanna Kang
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The LA Local
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Topline:
The $16 million project converted a historic Craftsman home into 19 affordable housing units for veterans with other-than-honorable discharges who face barriers to housing.
Why now: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass joined housing advocates, city officials and nonprofit partners Monday to open the $16 million development, which she said demonstrates how smaller existing properties can be converted into affordable housing.
More details: The project, developed by Holos Communities on city-owned land, preserves much of the home’s original character. Rather than demolishing the historic Craftsman as originally planned, developers retained the facade facing the street and restored features including leaded-glass windows, high ceilings and a roof built with wood salvaged from the original home, while adding a contemporary three-story residential wing in the rear.
Galen Banks spent years cycling through addiction and homelessness after leaving the U.S. Navy with an other-than-honorable discharge.
On Monday, standing inside the Koreatown home where he has lived since April, Banks said rebuilding his life has also helped him reconnect with his daughter after nearly seven years without contact.
“I feel good. My mental health is going well,” Banks said. “When I was out there … I was using crack, I was stealing, I was breaking into people’s cars. I wasn’t talking to my daughter.”
Galen Banks, the first resident of a new affordable housing development for veterans in Koreatown, sits inside his apartment Monday, Aug. 3.
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Hanna Kang
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The LA Local
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Banks, 50, who is recovering from drug addiction, is the first resident of a new affordable housing development that transformed a historic Craftsman house into 19 individual units for veterans, many of whom had experienced homelessness and, like Banks, were discharged under conditions that often leave them ineligible for Veterans Affairs benefits.
Banks served aboard an aircraft carrier before he was discharged in 1998 after being caught smoking marijuana. After leaving the military, his addiction worsened, leading to a four-month prison sentence in 2009 on a drug paraphernalia conviction.
He was later transported from Folsom State Prison to Los Angeles to address an outstanding warrant, but after a court gave him credit for time served, he had no way to return to Fresno, where he was required to report for parole.
“That’s actually when my homelessness started, because I had no way to get back to Fresno,” he said. “And eventually, I ended up on Skid Row.”
More than a decade later, Banks is one of 19 veterans living in the converted Craftsman house, giving him his first stable home in years and the opportunity to begin rebuilding his life.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass joined housing advocates, city officials and nonprofit partners Monday to open the $16 million development, which she said demonstrates how smaller existing properties can be converted into affordable housing.
“Affordable housing doesn’t always mean large, high-rise buildings,” Bass said. “We have to think creatively to reimagine some of the historic spaces that define our communities as we accelerate the creation of more housing.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, center, joins city officials and others during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new 19-unit affordable housing development for veterans in Koreatown on Monday, Aug. 3.
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Hanna Kang
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The LA Local
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The project, developed by Holos Communities on city-owned land, preserves much of the home’s original character.
Rather than demolishing the historic Craftsman as originally planned, developers retained the facade facing the street and restored features including leaded-glass windows, high ceilings and a roof built with wood salvaged from the original home, while adding a contemporary three-story residential wing in the rear.
“It wasn’t just about historic preservation,” said Logan O’Phelan, director of operations for Holos Communities. “It also preserves resident well-being.”
O’Phelan said the building’s high windows, ceilings and porch encourage cross-ventilation and natural cooling. Retaining the house’s appearance also allows the development to resemble neighboring homes, he said, reducing the stigma sometimes associated with supportive housing.
Construction was delayed for years due to financing after Holos was awarded the site in 2019, according to O’Phelan. Ground broke in 2024.
Residents receive intensive case management, stable housing assistance and health care connections through The People Concern. The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles committed 15 project-based vouchers for 20 years and expects to provide nearly $7 million in rental subsidies, according to officials.
Identifying 19 veterans took nearly a year because the development is specifically intended for people with other-than-honorable discharges, according to Lety Muro, a community development coordinator for Holos Communities.
On Monday, Bass said Los Angeles recently placed its 1,000th veteran into permanent housing through her House Our Vets initiative.
For Banks, having his own space has allowed him to focus on what comes next. He hopes to get a service dog and work in peer support, helping veterans and people recovering from addiction navigate struggles similar to his own.
After moving into the building in April, Banks said he found the confidence to reconnect with the daughter he feared had written him off during the years he spent unhoused.
“But it was totally the opposite,” Banks said. “She said, ‘Where you been? I missed you.’ Yeah, we got a good relationship today.”
The LAUSD school board planned to vote on firing former Superintendent Alberto Carvalho for cause before he abruptly resigned in June.
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Christina House
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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The Los Angeles Unified School District Board planned to vote on firing former Superintendent Alberto Carvalho for cause before he resigned in June. Letters released to LAist in response to a public records request show the district accused Carvalho of violating district policy. The documents LAist received also show his lawyers contested the allegations.
What the letters say: The bulk of the allegations against Carvalho in the June 8 letter are related to not reporting gifts and outside payments for education-related consulting work. Board President Scott Schmerelson wrote that an ongoing investigation also allegedly found Carvalho bypassed district information technology policy and asked his district-provided driver to perform personal work.
Carvalho’s legal team responds: Lawyers with Holland and Knight, which is representing Carvalho, issued a 12-page rebuttal to the district’s claims and called the letter a “political hit job.” Carvalho’s attorneys wrote that the externally funded meetings, travel and other perks were public and often discussed with the district’s general counsel. The response also highlighted Carvalho’s recent contract renewal, which was unanimously approved by the board in September 2025.
The backstory: FBI agents searched Carvalho’s home and office on Feb. 25, 2026. A Department of Justice spokesperson said the agency had a court-authorized warrant, but declined to provide additional details. Within days, LAUSD’s board voted unanimously to place Carvalho on paid administrative leave “pending investigation.” The board appointed longtime district administrator Andrés Chait to the district’s top job first temporarily and then permanently after Carvalho resigned.
This is a developing story. LAist has reached out to LAUSD and Carvalho’s legal team for comment and will update this story with further information.
Erin Stone
covers climate and environmental issues in Southern California.
Published August 4, 2026 11:16 AM
An early image of the Eaton Fire shows flames behind an Altadena neighborhood on Jan. 7, 2025.
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Josie Huang
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LAist
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Topline:
The deadly and destructive Eaton Fire was caused by Southern California Edison equipment, the L.A. County Fire Department said in a report released today.
More about the report: The department's investigation into the cause of the fire found that arcing electrical lines ignited an unidentified material that fell to the ground in dry vegetation at the base of the utility’s Eaton Canyon transmission tower. Twelve seconds later, the Eaton Fire exploded under windy conditions.
The background: The fire, which began the evening of Jan. 7, 2025, ultimately killed at least 19 people and destroyed nearly 10,000 homes.
The deadly and destructive Eaton Fire was caused by Southern California Edison equipment, the L.A. County Fire Department said in a report released Tuesday.
The department's investigation into the cause of the fire found that arcing electrical lines ignited unidentified material that fell to the ground in dry vegetation at the base of the utility’s Eaton Canyon transmission tower. Twelve seconds later, the Eaton Fire exploded under windy conditions.
The fire, which began the evening of Jan. 7, 2025, ultimately killed at least 19 people and destroyed nearly 10,000 homes.
This article will be updated. Check back for details.
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Nora Saenz came from the city of Bell to demand answers during a town hall at Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School in Boyle Heights on July 9.
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Isaac Ceja
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Boyle Heights Beat
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The South Coast Air Quality Management District will hold a public hearing Wednesday to consider ordering additional measures to reduce odors during cleanup of the Lineage warehouse fire site.
How to join: The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. and will include public testimony. Community members can participate in person, by Zoom or by phone.
The backstory: Since July 12, the South Coast AQMD has received nearly 4,000 odor complaints that inspectors have traced back to the cold-storage warehouse, according to a petition for an abatement order filed against Lineage. If granted, the order would require the company to, among other things, power wash and disinfect concrete flooring once all solid waste is removed from the second freezer on the eastern half of the facility.
Read on ... for more details on how to attend and participate in the hearing.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District will hold a public hearing Wednesday to consider ordering additional measures to reduce odors during cleanup of the Lineage warehouse fire site.
The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. and will include public testimony. Community members can participate in person, by Zoom or by phone.
Since July 12, the South Coast AQMD has received nearly 4,000 odor complaints that inspectors have traced back to the cold-storage warehouse, according to a petition for an abatement order filed against Lineage. If granted, the order would require the company to, among other things, power wash and disinfect concrete flooring once all solid waste is removed from the second freezer on the eastern half of the facility.
The hearing board will consider the petition at Wednesday’s meeting.
Between July 12 and July 30, South Coast AQMD issued 19 violations to Lineage, alleging the company created a public nuisance by releasing odors that affected nearby residents, according to the notices of violation. The agency alleges that Lineage violated South Coast AQMD Rule 402 and California Health and Safety Code section 41700, which can lead to civil penalties ranging from $1,000 to $75,000 per day.
Lineage has said it is working to mitigate the rancid smells coming from its warehouse as it hauls away dozens of truckloads of waste.
“We are using a variety of approaches to minimize the effects, including: physical barriers (StormWrapper), applying a bleach solution in and around the building, running mist deodorizing systems around the site, and applying deodorizers directly to the debris to reduce odors as much as possible during that period,” according to Lineage’s website. “It will get better as the cleanup progresses.”
At a July 9 forum, Lineage Chief Operations Officer Jeff Rivera said the company was aiming to complete the cleanup within 45 days, a deadline set by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.
How to attend the hearing
In person: South Coast AQMD Headquarters, Hearing Board Room, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765
Instructions on how to participate via video or teleconference can be found here. The agenda can be found here.
How to report odors
The South Coast AQMD urges residents to call 1-800-CUTSMOG if they’re dealing with odors and to file a complaint every day so the agency can track the severity.
Anyone in the area can report odors, the agency said.
After receiving complaints, an inspector is sent to confirm the odor. People can call every day that they’re experiencing odors, and a public nuisance citation is issued after inspectors can confirm six complaints. People filing a complaint are required to provide their first and last name, location address and contact information in order to confirm the smell.
Yusra Farzan
reports on issues affecting current and future college students, their families and communities.
Published August 4, 2026 5:00 AM
Emma Bogart, 19, and Jordin Raven Tauzer-Pardo, 19, knit and chat between classes at Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa on Sept. 26, 2024.
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Adahlia Cole
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CalMatters
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For the first time, starting this fall, 56 East Los Angeles College students will use student housing at California State University, Los Angeles in an effort to address housing insecurity.
Why it matters: More than 50% of Los Angeles area community college students have experienced being housing insecure. “ It's a natural marriage, a partnership, because many of our students from East Los Angeles College tend to attend Cal State L.A., and the neat part about this is that not only are they going to be housed at Cal State L.A., they will be provided with the resources typically given to Cal State students,” said Alberto Román, chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District. “But more importantly, they're on campus and they can begin to see themselves as potential Cal State students.”
Other housing plans in the works: Román said the LACCD is also exploring a housing partnership with California State University, Dominguez Hills to house community college students on its campus. And through funding received from Measure LA, the LACCD is also embarking on a project to build housing on land they own at Pierce College and City College and buy existing housing to convert to dorms.
Starting this fall, 56 students from East Los Angeles College will use surplus apartment-style housing at Cal State L.A. in a first-ever partnership to address housing insecurity.
“ It's a natural marriage, a partnership, because many of our students from East Los Angeles College tend to attend Cal State L.A., and the neat part about this is that not only are they going to be housed at Cal State L.A., they will be provided with the resources typically given to Cal State students,” said Alberto Román, chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District. “But more importantly, they're on campus and they can begin to see themselves as potential Cal State students.”
More than 50% of Los Angeles area community college students have declared they’re housing insecure, prompting a three-pronged approach by the Los Angeles Community College District to lease the excess rooms from Cal State L.A.
The partnership is for five years. By the third year, Román said the plan is to have 120 community college students housed at Cal State L.A. The partnership, as well as LACCD’s new plans to build and buy housing units close to community college campuses, is being funded by Measure LA.
“We at LACCD, which is the largest community college system in the country, have been grappling with this for a long time as we've seen L.A. deal with a housing crisis, with a housing affordability crisis, and we've seen so many of our students be affected by housing insecurity or the lack of housing,” said Sara Hernandez, board president of the Los Angeles Community College District.
It’s a moral issue for the district to ensure students have housing, she added, but also “an issue of enrollment.”
“ If people can't afford to live in Los Angeles, especially young people, then they are not going to be able to utilize the community college system, meaning our enrollment goes down,” Hernandez said.
Other ways LACCD is addressing housing
Román said the LACCD is also exploring a housing partnership with California State University, Dominguez Hills to house community college students on their campus.
And through funding received from Measure LA, the LACCD is also embarking on a project to build housing on land they own at Pierce College and City College.
“ We will also look at procuring properties close to our colleges that could serve as dorms and are within walking distance of the college,” Román said. “ We have also put out a bid for property acquisition, meaning that we invite folks who may have properties available for housing to bid on that and to make them available to us.”
In 2022, voters approved Measure LA, which allowed the LACCD to issue a $5.3 billion bond, financed by a new property tax, to improve infrastructure and job training facilities across its nine colleges. Around $500 million was earmarked for housing.
The district’s goal, Román said, was to fully pay for and provide housing for 1,500 to 2,000 students.
