Homeless Housing Project located at 6531 S. Sepulveda. Great news! They have Extended Public Comment Period through March 25, 2022 – Make sure your comments are heard.
HUD has not yet received a request for release of funds (RROF) from the City of Los Angeles – Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) in conjunction with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles’s (HACLA) use of HUD HOME American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP) funds for the “Homekey 6531 S. Sepulveda Extended Stay America Hotel” project.
Please direct your comments and questions to Daniel Huynh at daniel.huynh@lacity.org, Veronica McDonnell at veronica.mcdonnell@lacity.org, and the CA Department of Housing and Community Development (CA HCD) at NEPAComments@hcd.ca.gov.
In your correspondence, please state that your comments were originally received by the HUD CPD Los Angeles Office on March 14, 2022. Please also include our elected officials, mayor.garcetti@lacity.org , mike.bonin@lacity.org, Councilmember.Bonin@lacity.org, sachin.medhekar@lacity.org, CPDLA@hud.gov, paula.ncwpdr@gmail.com.
The NCWP Advocacy Story Behind the Extension
March 18, 2022
The Neighborhood Council of Westchester/Playa (NCWPDR) voted Tuesday to send a letter to the Los Angeles Housing Department asking for a 30-day extension to weigh in on two hotels purchased for Project Home Key–purchases the community learned about from a social media post by Councilmember Mike Bonin.
“We learned about the hotel sales the same time everyone else did,” said the president of the NCWPDR, Paula Gerez, when the post was made.
The purchases include the 133-room Extended Stay America Hotel located at 6531 S. Sepulveda Boulevard and the 46-room LAX Suites at 11838 Aviation Boulevard for chronically homeless and those at-risk of becoming homeless.
A deadline for the NCWPDR to send in a Community Impact Statement about the purchases was Monday, March 14, but many council members had only learned about the project the week prior.
The letter voted on Tuesday states that the NCWPDR objects to the release of funds by the Housing Authority City of Los Angeles for the two proposed Project Home Key hotels and asks for a 30-day extension to the March 14 public comment period deadline.
“It is outrageous that the NCWP, community stakeholders and the public were made aware of the potential acquisition of two hotels within the NCWP footprint solely via a social media post from CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin on around March 3, 2022,” the letter states. “As a result, no stakeholders had the opportunity for public input or comment as required by the Los Angeles City Charter: IX, Section 907.”
“It’s about time that we stand up and take back our community,” stated Gerez during Tuesday’s meeting. “No one is saying we don’t want to help the homeless. However, we want to have a seat at the table. We’ve given a lot of time volunteering to be a part of the conversation.”
According to the NCWPDR, the purchase of the hotels has been in the works since at least January with no public awareness. “Our field deputy didn’t bring this to our attention. They filed notice paperwork in the Valley. This is wrong. This is not being a good partner,” stated Gerez.
The hotel was part of a package where the city spent $500 million to buy 16 hotels and apartment complexes for homeless residents.
The Housing Authority City of Los Angeles (HACLA) said Forty-six (46) units at the Extended Stay will be leased as Chronic Homelessness units, and eighty-five (85) will be targeted to persons who are At Risk of Homelessness.
Funding for the project will come from state funds matched by the City of Los Angeles.
Board Comment
During board comments and discussion to approve the letter, many board members stated they would favor the project but were against the lack of transparency and how the project is moving forward.
“Our community would like to have been a part of the decision-making process so that we can put in our concerns, and they would be valued and understood,” said Chip Mallek.
Carey Begbie Westerfield, who voted against sending the letter, stated: “There has to be a solution. If not this, then what. No one on this board is an expert; we have people in place by the City for that. There are homeless people in our community. There are people on the verge of homelessness in our community. We have to be a part of the solution.”
“My biggest concern is not the project, we have to have solutions, but it has to be the right solutions,” stated Alexandra Reynolds. “This was done with very little interest in engaging in the community. If that is the way the city is going to operate the facility–that to me is a big concern.”
“Its time government is put to the standard of businesses,” said Gregg Aniolek. “We need a line item sheet of what capital costs are and the operational costs are. All of this homeless money seems to be disappearing. We need to show where it is going. This is the transparency that we need. “
More to the Letter
The letter states, “Ours is not a community that is unfamiliar with controversial projects or with development, but the most successful projects are always the ones in which communication with the stakeholders is given a high priority.
Our Neighborhood Council footprint includes Los Angeles International Airport, the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, Loyola Marymount University, Otis College of Art and Design, the Ballona Wetlands, the LAWA Northside Development Project ( 2.5 million sq. ft. of proposed development), the Venice Dual Force Main Project and Westchester Park.
It also includes Dockweiler State Beach and Playa del Rey beach, which, for many city and county residents, is the only affordable recreational beach access available to them and their families. Many of the above-mentioned partners in our footprint have ongoing projects in which our stakeholders and NC are actively involved.
We are a very engaged and participatory community, but our stakeholders are feeling disenfranchised and blindsided by the lastminute notice of this project. There is overwhelming consensus that our community requires more time to thoughtfully understand the use and conditions of the hotels as well as to examine and evaluate the potential impacts to our community, both positive and negative.
In light of these concerns, we respectfully request an extension of at least 30 days to submit a Community Impact Statement/letter outlining the position of the Neighborhood Council. We ask this as compassionate elected stakeholders for the whole community and authorize the President to take the appropriate action to promote this position.”
