Los Angeles Plan to Turn Old Motels Into 500 Homes for Veterans

Los Angeles Plans 500 Apartments for Homeless Veterans in Old Motels

In May 2016 the City of Los Angeles approved a plan for nonprofit and private developers to buy run-down motels, and some old hospital buildings, and convert them into about 500 small permanent apartments for homeless veterans. Rent would be covered by vouchers funded by the US Department of Veterans Affairs and issued through the city’s housing authority, and residents would be offered support such as case management and counselling.

The plan came at a time when Los Angeles had one of the largest populations of homeless veterans of any US city. It was one piece of a wider push to house former service members quickly, using buildings that already existed instead of waiting years for new construction.

How the motel conversion plan worked

The model had three moving parts. First, developers would purchase motels that neighbours and police often regarded as nuisance properties, places associated with crime or neglect. Second, they would renovate the rooms into efficiency apartments, typically a single room with a bathroom and a small kitchen area. Third, the rent would be paid largely through federally funded veterans’ housing vouchers, giving owners a predictable income and a modest profit.

The homes were meant to be permanent supportive housing. That term matters: residents sign a lease and can stay, and the building offers or connects them to services such as mental health care, addiction treatment and help with benefits. It differs from a shelter, where stays are temporary and conditions are often crowded.

Coverage at the time reported that the housing vouchers attached to the deal were set to expire after 15 years. That figure most likely describes the length of the funding arrangement for the buildings, not a limit on how long an individual veteran can receive help, and we could not confirm the details of the contract.

Why converting motels made sense

Building new affordable housing in Los Angeles is slow and expensive. Land costs are high, approvals can take years, and in the mid-2010s many supportive housing projects cost several hundred thousand dollars per unit. Motels offer a shortcut. They are already divided into small rooms, each with its own bathroom, and they are often located along transport corridors.

Conversions also deal with a second problem. A neglected motel can drag down a neighbourhood. Turning it into managed housing with on-site staff can improve the surrounding area at the same time as it gives people a home. Mayor Eric Garcetti framed the plan in exactly those terms in a statement quoted at the time, describing it as a way to turn blighted properties into places where veterans could get the services and housing they had earned.

The approach later became much more widespread. During the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s Project Roomkey and Homekey programmes used hotels and motels to shelter and then permanently house homeless people across the state, building on the logic of conversions like this one.

The scale of veteran homelessness in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which runs the annual count, reported around 2,700 homeless veterans in the City of Los Angeles on a single night in 2015. Advocates at the time pointed out that this was despite an intensive drive by local and federal agencies.

The plan also followed a missed target. In 2014 Garcetti had joined a national pledge, promoted by the Obama administration, to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015. Los Angeles housed thousands of veterans in that period, but new veterans kept falling into homelessness, and the goal was not met.

Funding was another factor. In 2014 California voters approved Proposition 41, which allowed $600 million in bonds for affordable and supportive housing for veterans. Programmes like the motel conversions were one way to put that money and the federal vouchers to work.

What happened next

A full public tally of how many of the 500 planned motel apartments were completed and occupied is hard to find in the coverage available. The approach did feed into later city and state programmes, but the original announcement should be read as a target rather than a finished result.

The broader numbers have moved in the right direction. The 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count estimated about 3,050 homeless veterans across Los Angeles County, a 10% fall from 3,410 in 2024. Local agencies also reported that around 1,200 veterans were placed in permanent housing between October 2024 and July 2025, using vouchers and other programmes.

Those figures cover the whole county rather than the city alone, so they cannot be compared directly with the 2015 city count. They do show that veteran homelessness remains a large problem, and that steady progress is possible when housing, vouchers and services are combined.

What makes housing programmes like this succeed

Housing first. Research on Housing First programmes has found that giving people a stable home without preconditions, then offering treatment and support, keeps many more of them housed than requiring sobriety or treatment first.
Services that stay. Case managers, health care and help with benefits are what turn an apartment into a stable home.
Quality renovation. Converted motels need proper kitchens, accessibility and maintenance, or residents end up in housing that feels like a shelter.
Honest reporting. Tracking how many units open, how many people move in and how many remain housed after a year shows whether a plan delivered.

How you can help homeless veterans

If you know a veteran who is homeless or at risk, the US Department of Veterans Affairs runs the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-424-3838, which is staffed around the clock. Local veterans’ organisations, food banks and housing nonprofits also welcome volunteers and donations, and supporting local supportive housing proposals at planning meetings can make a real difference to whether projects like these get built.

Sources: Summary of the Los Angeles Times report, 27 May 2016; Angelus News: City of Los Angeles to convert motels to house homeless veterans; Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority: 2015 count, City of Los Angeles; The Downey Patriot: Veteran homelessness in LA County continues decline.

More from the archive: