Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who promised to address the homelessness crisis in the city during her 2022 mayoral campaign, celebrated the official opening of the Wilcox, an affordable-living apartment building for unhoused seniors Monday morning.
Bass, alongside project funders, praised the 62-unit building, located on Kenmore Ave in East Hollywood, as a successfully expedited development in the initiative to create over 7,000 affordable homes in the city.
The push is the result of Bass’ 2022 campaign promise to house 15,000 people by the end of year one. She described Los Angeles seniors as “the fastest growing sector of the unhoused population.”
At least 45 residents have already moved in, and the remaining tenants will enter the building in the following weeks according to Rebecca Louie, president of the project’s developer Wakeland Housing.
Having won the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH) Senior Housing Project of the Year award in 2023, each unit is equipped with a bathroom, kitchen, storage space and one bed.
“I think when people understand that our elders are the ones that are unhoused, it’s going to make people more open to accepting housing in their neighborhoods. Especially when they see a beautiful facility like this,” Bass said during Monday’s speech.
According to Bass, development for affordable housing is often a lengthy process. This brought her to sign Executive Directive 1, calling on multiple city departments to expedite and prioritize the process.
“It’s urgency that is needed. Approval processes that used to take six months are now taking 47 days… When we expedite projects, we save lives and we save money at the same time,” Bass said.
Louie expressed her appreciation for the Bass administration’s haste in creating more housing.
“She’s taking it seriously,” Louie said. “I’m super appreciative of her ‘get it done’ attitude.”
For Louie, providing affordable housing opportunities will be a priceless benefit to the livelihood of LA seniors.
“40% of the seniors in the United States live purely just on Social Security income… Stop and think for a moment what it would be like to be living here on 1800 dollars a month,” Louie said. “You’re not going to find work when your address is a sidewalk, we know that homes are the answer.”
City council member Hugo Soto-Martinez, who represents District 13 where the new East Hollywood building is located, said he’s satisfied with the city’s work.
“I hope we celebrate what is today. We’re going to light a candle to this issue because our work is rooted in love, it’s rooted in community and really trying to make a positive change in society.”