Los Angeles, California: Reviving an Historic YMCA for Transitioning Youth and Chronically Homeless

Los Angeles, California: Reviving an Historic YMCA for Transitioning Youth and Chronically Homeless

HUD USER publishes a series of case studies based on federal, state, and local strategies that increase affordable housing opportunities and support sustainable community development. The projects and community development efforts featured in these reports have demonstrated innovation through a multitude of partnerships and initiatives.

The 28th Street YMCA project in Los Angeles preserves an historic community asset while providing 48 affordable housing units and workforce development programs for youth aging out of foster care, the mentally ill, and the chronically homeless. In restoring the historic YMCA building, Clifford Beers Housing and the Coalition for Responsible Community Development retained the building’s exterior and terracotta roof, reworked the floor plan to increase residential room size, and included solar power elements to improve energy-efficiency. The developers also added a five-story residential wing at the rear of the site to keep the number of units virtually equal to that of the original building and provided offices, private rooms, and access to case workers to support onsite mental health and other support services for residents.

Visit HUD USER's Case Studies page to learn more about affordable housing preservation and to view other promising examples of how communities across the nation are raising the bar on sustainable community development.