Apartments for the homeless in Los Angeles could cost more than a half-million dollars each to build

As Twitchy reported earlier, California Gov. Gavin Newsom lectured President Trump on electric cars, just as PG&E was shutting down power to 500,000 customers. But that’s pretty much business as usual in California.

USA Today reported Tuesday that apartments for the homeless in Los Angeles which received more than a billion dollars in funding three years ago have yet to be built, and when they are built, each one will cost about as much as a private family home.

Nearly three years after Los Angeles voters approved $1.2 billion in housing for the homeless, LA has yet to see a single building completed.

Each apartment costs an average of $531,373 to build, which exceeds the median price of a market-rate condo.https://t.co/iFUdLRaeub

— Michael Hendrix (@michael_hendrix) October 8, 2019

Wow, that’s not reminiscent at all of the state’s high-speed rail fiasco.

USA Today reports:

Nearly three years after city voters approved a $1.2 billion construction program over 10 years, the city has yet to see the first building completed. Average per-apartment costs have zoomed more than $100,000 past prior predictions, the study by city Controller Ron Galperin finds.

…

At an average cost of $531,373 per unit — with many apartments costing more than $600,000 each — building costs of many of the homeless units will exceed the median sale price of a market-rate condominium. In the city of Los Angeles, the median price for a condo is $546,000, and a single-family home in Los Angeles County has a median price of $627,690, the study states.

Prices rose dramatically because of higher-than-expected costs for items other than actual construction, such as consultants and financing. Those items comprise up to 40% of the cost of a project, the study found. By contrast, land acquisition costs averaged only 11% of the total costs.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhocking

— Michael McGivern (@McGive_It_To_Me) October 8, 2019

In Seattle homelessness has become an industry. Millions of tax $ ends up in hands of family friends and donors of politicians and govt officials. The more tax $ they spend on homelessness the worse the problem gets. If they really wanted to solve the problem that wouldnt happen

— Andrews Dad (@Andrew_Dad) October 8, 2019

Same in SF.
And the drug dealers flock near the shelters where they can deal to their best customers.

— Amanda Fawkes (@amanda_fawkes) October 9, 2019

Its California. It take the 10 years to build a bike lane two blocks long

— mishmashmisty (@mishmashmisty) October 9, 2019

What an absolute waste of taxpayer money. Building apartments for more than their market rate sales price is peak government.

— Jon K (@jonk2525) October 8, 2019

It’s almost as if the economics of building sustainable affordable housing are quite different than building market rate housing. Oh, wait, we’ve been saying that for years. But please keep asking why apples don’t peel the same as oranges.

— Michael Massie (googleable) (@michaelmassie) October 8, 2019

how california democrat crony corruption works

— Madam Margaret (@teragramus) October 8, 2019

Was anyone expecting a different outcome?

— Klerkin (@ArthurS05387768) October 8, 2019

That’s almost double what they should cost

— LEviscerated [OG Account] (@JackManeJr31) October 8, 2019

Triple even.

A new-build 2BR apartment should be built for about $200K with $500 in monthly maintenance for long-run break-even rents of about $1450/month.

— afai sfhjnkn (@poiThePoi) October 8, 2019

This is pure insanity!!!! Voters wake up!

— The Lone Cypress (@nixpix101) October 9, 2019

Meanwhile, those who aren’t homeless and are employed are paying $1,400 to $2,400 a month to live in adult dormitories with shared kitchens and bathrooms or renting bunk beds for $1,200 a month in something called a PodShare.

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