Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
Why Underused Hotels, Motels Could Be The Faster Path To Easing L.A’s Affordable Housing Gap
The Cecil Hotel was successfully repurposed via adaptive reuse.
(
Jim Winstead
/
via the Creative Commons on Flickr
)
A new report examining strategies to reverse Los Angeles’s critical housing shortage found repurposing commercial buildings, such as hotels, motels and vacant offices, could greatly increase available units.
Researchers at the RAND Corporation, which published the report, said that such adaptive reuse could provide 9% to 14% of the housing L.A. County needs to build over the next eight years.
Of the available options, hotels and motels would be the most feasible, said Jason Ward, the study's lead author and an economist at RAND, in a statement. Existing rooms could simply be converted into housing units.
The availability and usability of vacant office space, however, depends largely on local real estate prices and developers’s plans for the units.
Support for LAist comes from
“The economics and logistics of such projects are complex,” said Ward. “Significant incentives for the conversion of these properties to both market-rate and affordable housing may be needed.”
Adaptive reuse has been successful in L.A. in the past. A paper published last year by UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation found that between 2014 to 2019, L.A. created about 28,000 housing units on commercially zoned land — far more than any other large metro area in California.
That’s thanks in part to an ordinance passed by City Council in 1999, which aimed to streamline adaptive reuse projects in distressed downtown buildings. The result is the current bustling neighborhood, where businesses thrive and renters flock.
Among the buildings that have been repurposed is the infamous Cecil Hotel.
The report issued by RAND identified about 2,300 commercial properties that could be appropriate for reuse. If their potential were maximized, the buildings could yield 72,000 to 113,000 housing units for L.A. County.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Southern California, overturning a lower court ruling that prohibited agents from stopping people based on their appearance. -
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
Best of LAist