Holos Communities Executive Director & CEO Cristian Ahumada was joined by LA County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath and other public officials for the grand opening of LA County’s newest Project Homekey site on Thursday, July 20, 2023. The project, known as Avenida, repurposed the former Avenue Hotel located off the Hollywood freeway Vermont exit and within steps of the Vermont/Beverly Red Line Station.

Using funds from the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s Homekey Round 2 and the County of Los Angeles, Avenida consists of 75 studio apartments for unhoused individuals and was completed in 1/3 of the time and roughly 2/3 the cost of typical affordable housing developments today. Construction began at Avenida in September of last year.

“While I am incredibly grateful for opportunities like Project Homekey, it shouldn’t take a pandemic to create a single source of financing to complete projects like Avenida which was completed in under a year. Homekey is the type of immediate solution that is urgently needed,” said Cristian Ahumada, Holos Communities’ executive director. “And why stop with hotels and motels? Let’s purchase and convert vacant commercial buildings into housing. In addition to the funds, we need to see city, county, and state collaboration like this every day if we are going to build enough housing to meet the needs of unhoused and rent-burdened Angelenos.”

Project Homekey, California’s innovative, COVID-era program helped developers purchase and convert underutilized hotels and motels into permanent supportive housing. The streamlined process dramatically reduced the time required to assemble capital and source land to expedite projects like Avenida.

"On any given night, over 3,000 unhoused people are living on the streets of our district because affordable housing and social services are becoming increasingly difficult to find," said LA City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez. "This project shows that when we work together across all levels of government along with the nonprofit and private sectors, we can actually make meaningful, lasting change for our communities."

As a rehab project located on the same block as an LA Metro stop, Avenida serves as an example of smart growth and environmental justice that leverages resources for an immediate solution. Rehabilitating existing properties reduces the embodied carbon associated with new construction and enables construction to be completed in a fraction of the time. Building housing adjacent to public transportation reduces the need for parking and helps residents access the rest of Los Angeles.

Speakers included:

Cristian Ahumada, Executive Director and CEO, Holos Communities
Jason, Avenida Resident
Lindsey P. Horvath, LA County Supervisor, 3rd District
Patrick Mooney, Homelessness Director, LA City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Ramirez
Jenna Hornstock, Deputy Mayor, Los Angeles City
Emilio Salas, Executive Director, Los Angeles County Development Authority
Cheri Todoroff, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative, LA County CEO’s Office

You can learn more about Avenida by visiting the community page here.

Media Coverage:

Holos Celebrates Avenida Grand Opening

Changing the Narrative – The Need to Shift Away from Biases When Building Housing

Housing - A Crisis of Mediocrity and Imagination