(DailyVantage.com) – Homelessness has increased dramatically throughout the United States over the past few years, with states along the western coast seeing the most significant rise in the homeless population.
To combat the steadily growing rate of homelessness, states like California and Washington have started new taxpayer-funded projects to create affordable housing for people without homes. One such project is a new high-rise in Los Angeles, which local sources estimate will cost taxpayers around $600,000 per unit.
According to KABC-7, an ABC-related broadcast channel for Los Angeles, the high-rise project will contain 278 units scattered across 19 floors. Los Angeles officials approved the massive housing project to help reduce the homeless population throughout the city, with some elected officials citing the infamous Skid Row neighborhood as one of the areas targeted by the project. The high-rise project won’t just provide housing to Los Angeles’s homeless population, as it features several luxury amenities that substantially raise the project’s cost.
The high-rise construction project includes 278 units and various additions to help the building’s residents reconnect with Los Angeles. Among the add-ons confirmed for construction are a gymnasium, a library, a room for art, a room for people to play instruments, a room for computer use, and an entire floor dedicated to case workers who help homeless people reintegrate into society. Los Angeles officials plan on using taxpayer funds to build the massive high-rise, prompting the city’s residents to go online and share statistics about Los Angeles’s housing market on social media.
Among the statistics circulating on social media after the city announced the project is a comparison between the cost of a high-rise unit and the average cost of a condo in Los Angeles. While one of the high-rise units could cost taxpayers approximately $600,000, a condominium within the city would only cost the average resident around $560,000. Single-family homes are vastly more expensive, costing the average Los Angeles resident over $1.3 million. The high costs of residences within the city have prompted some critics to claim Los Angeles residents currently suffer from a housing crisis, which could contribute to the homeless population over the next few years.
The high-rise project has also renewed criticism of Los Angeles’s elected officials, with many city residents claiming the project would encourage homelessness rather than reduce the homeless population. According to one online critic, allowing homeless people to move into a luxurious high-rise unit constructed with taxpayer funds would incentivize other homeless people to migrate to Los Angeles. Despite the criticism, Los Angeles officials cite the high-rise project as a substantial step in reducing the city’s growing homeless population.
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