LOS ANGELES – Mayor Karen Bass and City Attorney Feldstein Soto each issued statements today after the L.A. Superior Court appointed Mark Adams as receiver for the Skid Row Housing Trust:
“This is a bold and historic step towards making more housing available in Los Angeles, bringing more Angelenos inside, and saving lives,” said Mayor Bass. “This action will help us scale our programs to house more Angelenos as we face a crisis of 47,000 people sleeping on the street. If we want to help and house folks in Skid Row, we need to have housing in Skid Row. This was truly a partnership, with the City Attorney stepping up in a huge way. We are going to be just as bold when it comes to preserving housing as we are about building housing.”
"This office is fully committed to bringing to bear every tool in our legal and regulatory toolkit to prevent and reduce homelessness. The 2000 units in these 29 buildings have 1500 tenants who are among the most vulnerable people in our City, requiring health services, security and daily assistance, which we are working with the County and other government agencies to provide,” said City Attorney Feldstein Soto. “The receiver will also be able to rehabilitate the 500 units under orders of abatement to make those units available for housing. I am extremely proud of the legal professionals at every level in my office who worked nonstop to bring this to fruition and am grateful to the Mayor for her leadership and ongoing collaborative spirit."
The announcement follows the Mayor and City Attorney taking drastic action to preserve and rehabilitate nearly 2,000 units of permanent supportive housing owned by the Skid Row Housing Trust, which recently announced it is unable to continue operating its 29 buildings in Los Angeles.