LEARN MOREThe 50-square-block swath of LA known as Skid Row is facing a quadruple epidemic of drug addiction, homelessness and mental illness in conjunction with the present-day threat of COVID19.
Skid Row’s homeless population is estimated at about 5,000 - 8,000 and to Angelinos the neighborhood is notorious for its crime, addiction and homicide rate.
What the general public seems to overlook is the rich systemic backstory to “skid row” dating back to its inception in the early 1900’s. The first of its inhabitants being leftover migrant workers from the Civil War, who were criminalized by the media and local government, arrested, chained and sentenced to build our railroads.
By the 1990’s SkidRow became a dumping ground once again for local jails and asylums, as the homeless were left resourceless to their own devices. Around this time mental institutions in the surrounding areas were defunded and de-institutionalized as LA county failed to provide inpatient solutions during mental health crises.
SkidRow has historically become a melting pot of systemic, institutionalized failure within our social, mental health and housing systems in the US and yet we see those in tents as the criminals.
Knowledge is power - learn more below.
For America's swelling ranks of homeless, finding four walls and a roof is just the beginning
by Amelia Rayno
Often, they aren't getting a home, they are getting a vacant space and no resources to be able to set it up or stay there. Granny, as she’s known, had been homeless for over a decade before she secured a Section 8 apartment. But getting a home isn’t the end of the story.
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Skid Row Housing Trust
The Skid Row Housing Trust (the Trust) provides permanent supportive housing so that people who have experienced homelessness, prolonged extreme poverty, poor health, disabilities, mental illness and/or addiction can lead safe, stable lives in wellness.
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Getting Creative About Affordable Housing in Skid Row
Theater artists & activists John Malpede and Henriëtte Brouwers of the performance group Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) and designer Rosten Woo are creating How to House 7,000 People in Skid Row and How to Fund It.
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Nonprofit plans to build 160-unit affordable housing project by 2025
A new 160-unit affordable housing project in the Washington Neighborhood could be completed by early 2025 that would provide housing for some of the lowest income households in the city as well as homeless veterans.
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Project brings affordable housing, clinic to Skid Row
A new project is bringing permanent housing and accessible health care to the heart of Skid Row.
The Skid Row Housing Trust recently opened 649 Lofts within the forthcoming Joshua House Health Center. It celebrated its virtual grand opening on YouTube on April 30.
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Affordable housing planned for Metro-adjacent site in Long Beach
Developer Skid Row Housing Trust and the City of Long Beach are teaming up on plans to bring affordable housing and mobility improvements to the blocks surrounding the A Line's Anaheim Street Station.
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See the huge affordable housing towers planned for Skid Row
A Downtown Los Angeles homeless service provider has ambitious plans to bring a new multi-structure affordable housing complex to the heart of Skid Row. New renderings offer a preview of what the big project would look like.
