Holloway Motel Transitional Housing Project Renovations to Begin this Summer

At a Business Leadership Quarterly Meeting this morning, hosted by the City of West Hollywood and the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Brian League, the City’s Property Development Manager, revealed that renovations are underway for the Holloway Motel Transitional Housing Project. Improvements are projected to begin in the summer of this year.

“We are going to start the renovation at the site later this summer,” he said. “The renovations will include full interior and exterior renovations. We’re cleaning up the exterior streetscape. Part of the project will include 20 rooms for the unhoused with supportive services. The projected time for the project will be roughly nine months.”

In late May 2022, the State awarded City of West Hollywood a conditional Homekey grant to address the capital and operating expenses to convert the proposed Holloway Motel site into an interim housing and supportive services location for community members experiencing homelessness. In June 2022, the West Hollywood City Council approved the purchase of the Holloway Motel with reserves set aside in West Hollywood’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The proposed project plans call for considerable physical improvements to the site and operations would include appropriate security measures and 24/7 onsite staff.

The City of West Hollywood’s Five-Year Plan to Address Homelessness — established in 2018 through community, City Council, and stakeholder collaboration — prioritizes taking several actions to create supportive service space within the City of West Hollywood’s municipal boundaries for community members experiencing homelessness.

In accordance with the plan, the City has been preparing for opportunities to buy property within the city that can be converted into a service space, with one of the priority uses being for interim housing. Interim housing programs offer people experiencing homelessness 30- to 90-day stays, while engaging in social services and locating permanent housing.

As a byproduct of the emergency response provided by the State of California to address the needs of vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented amount of financial support has become available from the State to support local jurisdictions in purchasing hotels and motels for conversion into interim and affordable housing programs; dubbed the State of California Homekey Program.