LOS ANGELES – Five years after it was purchased by People Assisting the Homeless (with an $11 million mortgage from the city, financed with Project Homekey funds), and three years after it was vacated after serving as interim homeless housing for about 14 months, work is set to begin this week at 3130 West Washington Blvd to convert the former Ramada Inn into permanent housing for the formerly homeless.
As we reported in September, thus far PATH Ventures has garnered over $19.5 million in city, state, private and federal funding for this project. This amounts to about $300,000 per unit to renovate the 30 unit motel about a mile from the beach. By comparison, a decrepit, 78 unit motel in Long Beach also purchased with Homekey funds recently re-opened as a homeless shelter after three years and a complete, gut renovation that included mold remediation and foundation work, for a total cost per unit of about $294,000.
At the Ramada site, a new fence has been installed, along with a construction trailer, dumpsters, and signage indicating the site is protected by 24/7 security surveillance. A worker at the site confirmed to the Current that work would begin on Monday, November 2 with demolition. According to records at L.A. Department of Building and Safety, a permit for the conversion of “transient guest rooms into light housekeeping rooms” with a change “in interior layout, new laundry rooms, storage rooms, and a patio” with “affordability per ED1” was issued on March 18, 2025…