With tens of thousands of homeless people in Los Angeles County and soaring rents, local officials often speak about the importance of creating affordable housing and shelter.
In Venice, however, it’s local officials who are accused of stalling the construction of 140 affordable housing units, according to a lawsuit.
As reported by the Los Angeles Public Press, the Venice Dell supportive housing apartment building is being held up by “a series of administrative blocks that began soon after the November 2022 election of a new city councilmember for the area, Traci Park, and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto,” the suit claims.
The project, which was approved by the City Council in 2022, is planned for the area near the Venice Canals, but Park and Feldstein-Soto, who the suit claims are “both vocal opponents of the Project,” have stalled construction, according to the LA Forward Institute, which filed the lawsuit.
The suit asserts that Park and Feldstein-Soto are “discriminating against people of color and people with disabilities in violation of fair housing laws and equal protection under the state Constitution,” LAist added.
Representatives for Park and Feldstein-Soto declined to provide comment, with some citing “pending litigation,” the Public Press added.
Sylvia Aroth, a homeowner in Venice and former board member of Venice Community Housing, one of the project’s developers, told the Public Press she’s hoping other local officials step in to help the project move forward.
“The city and the mayor should intervene and push the project through, in line with all of the mayor’s executive directives and the homelessness affordable housing (initiative),” she said. “It just makes absolutely no sense that these actions are condoned.”