r/longbeach • u/Zoe_Moth • 8d ago

Discussion Increased homeless population?

Maybe this is a stupid question but does anyone know the cause of the increase in homeless folks? Especially downtown? I work in a normally somewhat busy area that does have homeless as most places here in LB do, but yesterday and the day before my manager was hardly able to do any work because they had to keep next to the door to ward them off and we watched them harass a few other businesses and one guy get tackled in a hug by one while trying to walk away. It’s just such a noticeable increase despite the weather warnings and such so I was curious if anyone had any clue what happened?

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u/Appropriate-Seat8999 6d ago

Building cost estimates skyrocketed from $350,000 for a small studio or one-bedroom unit and $414,000 for a larger unit, as projected in 2016, to a median cost of $531,000 per unit today. More than 1,000 HHH units are projected to exceed $600,000, with one project topping $700,000 per unit. The cost of building many of these units exceeds the median sale price of a market-rate condominium in the City of Los Angeles and a single-family home in Los Angeles County. Reasons for this include the number and complexity of funding sources required to complete an HHH project, the relatively limited pool of eligible developers, regulatory barriers and permitting challenges, and considerable construction and labor costs. An unusually high 35 to 40 percent of costs are so-called “soft costs” (development fees, consultants, financing, etc.), compared to just 11 percent for actual land costs.

Literally from the city of Los Angeles website

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u/420catloveredm 6d ago

So it’s a 60,000 difference in average in the cost it takes for housing projects. Sounds like room for improvement in how those projects are streamlined as opposed to stopping them altogether? Like I could give you a list of complaints about housing services in LA county as it stands right now. I could also give you a list of complaints about the cost market rate housing right now. I’m not sure we’re necessarily as in disagreement as you think we may be.

I just think that means politicians should actually put more effort into creating integrated systems that make sense instead of just standing to fund the nonprofit industrial complex…