Photo: Downtowngal, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
By: EFE Posted Aug 19, 2023, 19:39 pm EDT
The Los Angeles City Council approved Friday the purchase of a 294-room hotel to be used by the homeless, in the city’s fight against homelessness and homelessness.
The Mayfair hotel purchase is part of the Inside Safe program, promoted by Mayor Karen Bass, which currently pays for nightly accommodation in city hotels for nearly a thousand people living on the streets.
Bass said in a statement that the hotel purchase will help the city reduce the number of rooms it rents.
The acquisition of the Mayfair hotel, located in the predominantly Latino area of Westlake, had raised concerns among residents over security issues.
However, Bass has said that the hotel will have tight security 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The hotel will cost $60 million and will require another $23 million in renovations.
The latest count from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) revealed that the number of people who had spent at least one night on the street increased 10% in the city in the last year, going from 41,980 in 2022 to 46,250 homeless in 2023.
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