County Announces Veteran Homeless Shelter at Best Western Hotel in San Pedro
County of Los Angeles and Volunteers of America are in the process of purchasing the Best Western Hotel on Gaffey Street, with the intention of turning it into temporary housing for homeless veterans. It will be purchased using funds from Project Homekey 2, a program that houses homeless people in hotels.
It will have 60 rooms, and the county and Volunteers of America are paying $22,224,000 for it.
“That is the cost of purchasing the property, renovations needed to make the building suitable for interim housing, and additional funding to operate the site,” said Liz Odendahl, communications director for Supervisor Janice Hahn, in an email. “These costs are in line with costs for similar projects around the state.”
Volunteers of America will own the property, even though it is purchasing the building with county funds. Odendahl said the organization is required to utilize it for the county’s intended purposes.
Hahn said that Volunteers of America has a great track record with working with homeless veterans.
“The County will have a contract with VOA so that we can provide oversight and make sure this is a great project that helps the veterans who will live there and works hand in hand with the San Pedro community,” Hahn said via email.
The hotel has 60 rooms, and most will be occupied by one person, Hahn said. However, she said that service providers who have worked with veterans have seen success with “buddy programs,” pairing two people in a room, and they will likely try the same thing here.
There most likely will not be any female veterans allowed to apply for the program, as Volunteers of America said it will only allow men.
Hahn said there will not be any time limit to how long each veteran can stay at the shelter. In addition, it will offer services to the residents.
“It will take time, but we are going to do everything we can to help them turn their lives around,” Hahn said. “For some people that will mean mental healthcare, for others it will mean helping them get a job.”
Hahn said they don’t have an exact count of how many staff Volunteers of America will have onsite, but will potentially have licensed clinicians, case managers, mental health specialists, custodial staff, administrative staff and a site manager. In addition, the organization may partner with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health for mental health ser
vices. The organization is also considering bringing in instructors to teach courses and job training.
The case managers will have a ratio of one to 20. Volunteers of America will use Housing and Urban Development — Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing to find permanent housing for the residents. Vouchers for these programs include long–term case management, clinical and supportive services, and permanent housing assistance for chronically homeless veterans.
The hotel will also have security that will be onsite at all times. This security will be paid for using state funding and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers, Odendahl said.
Once the state awards the money, Volunteers of America will have one year to occupy the property, and will receive a bonus if it does it within eight months. According to a fact sheet from Hahn’s office, the organization plans to have it done by Dec. 25, 2023.
“VOA will need to refurbish the rooms to address some safety and durability concerns,” Odendahl said. “They will also need to address safety concerns presented by the balconies and will cover the pool. There will be some ADA upgrades needed as well.”
Project Homekey 2, which was announced back in September 2021, originally included $2.75 billion in funds. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in March 2022 that the program would be expanding with $181 million for 13 new projects. The original Project Homekey started at the beginning of the pandemic, with the intention of housing homeless people who had nowhere else to shelter in place.