LA Breaks Ground On First Prop. HHH-Funded Housing Units For Homeless

EAST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and other city leaders broke ground Wednesday on the first permanent supportive housing units to receive funding from a 2016 voter-approved measure to build housing for the homeless.

"Today marks a new chapter in our fight to get homeless Angelenos off the streets and into homes,'' Garcetti said. "So I want to thank the people who backed Prop HHH -- with this groundbreaking, your votes are building a legacy that will support people for decades to come.''

The housing initiative promised to help the city build 10,000 units of housing for homeless Angelenos over the next decade.

Wednesday's groundbreaking of the second phase of the PATH Metro Villas in East Hollywood will provide 122 new housing units and a health clinic. The Metro Villas project is expected to open in spring 2019 and is among the nine projects which received initial funding from Proposition HHH. The remaining eight projects are expected to break ground next month.

The groundbreaking comes as the number of homeless people is on the rise in the city. The 2017 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count found that homelessness rose 20 percent in L.A. from 2016 -- to more than 34,000 people.

(©2017 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)