Los Angeles Homeless: $130,000 for an 8 Foot by 8 Foot Shelter

It seems like Los Angeles really knows how to over-spend when it comes to sheltering the homeless. The Los Angeles Times (Dec 12) reports on how the city is spending money on temporary shelters, which are just 64 square feet:

At the city’s first tiny home village, scheduled to open in January, each of the 39 closet-sized homes is costing $130,000, about 10 times what some other cities are spending. Five more villages are planned to open later. 

. . . A breakdown provided by the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering shows that the contract provides $1.5 million just to prepare the site.

It also includes $122,000 for underground utilities, $253,000 for concrete pads (one for each shelter), $312,000 for an administrative office and staff restroom, $1.1 million for mechanical, electrical and fire alarms and $280,000 for permits and fees.

Additionally, the city has budgeted $651,000 to connect to the street sewer line and $546,000 in design, project management and inspection costs.

For comparison purposes, Sonoma County spent $21,817, Riverside spent $17,000 and Tacoma, Washington is at $12,000 per similar size homes.

Back in November 2019, I posted about how the average per unit cost for more permanent shelters in Los Angeles was coming in at $531,373 per unit. This compared to the average price of a condo (at the time) of $546,000. How much must it cost to build new condos if it costs $531,373 per unit for homeless shelters? How is this not a reason why homes are so expensive in Los Angeles?

Who is thinking that this is just a way to pay off political contributors? It just doesn't seem to make sense that Los Angeles is paying so much more than the above listed cities and county. Yet, you're always going to get a complaint that the city isn't spending enough. There is a lawsuit from the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles with the statement, "It seems unimaginable to me that two adults with their own lives can share that space reasonably.”