A derelict 1950s motel on Sepulveda Boulevard has been reborn as The Pano, a 90-unit permanent supportive housing complex for people experiencing chronic homelessness. Los Angeles officials gathered Thursday in Panorama City to celebrate the opening, marking the conversion of a decades-old roadside motel into a community built specifically for the formerly unhoused.
The project, developed by LA Family Housing and its real estate arm LAFHBUILDS, combined the adaptive reuse of the old Panorama Motel with a new three-story apartment building constructed alongside it, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. At 8209 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, the site was designed by architecture firm office42 to turn a former 48-room motel into a 91-unit complex, with roughly 40 to 41 units carved out of the renovated motel structure and 50 more added in the new building, as detailed by Urbanize LA. Of those 91 units, 90 are reserved for formerly unhoused residents, with one set aside for an on-site property manager.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Imelda Padilla, whose district includes Panorama City, said in a statement that the development provides quality homes alongside supportive services to help individuals and families transition out of homelessness. She added that she and state and local partners remain committed to delivering housing solutions across Los Angeles. Photographs from the opening were credited to contributing photographer Gene Blevins.
Skipping Tax Credits for a Faster Build
Rather than relying on the traditional Low-Income Housing Tax Credit process, which can stretch financing timelines out for years, LA Family Housing pieced together a different funding model for The Pano. The nonprofit used California Project Homekey funds to acquire the site, layered in $10 million in private philanthropic gifts, and secured more than $49 million in Section 8 housing voucher subsidies from the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, the project’s details show…