The Times podcast: Why hotel rooms for L.A.'s homeless sit empty - Los Angeles Times

The Times podcast: Why hotel rooms for L.A.’s homeless sit empty

Two beds, a chair and table at the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles

By Helen LiPodcast Producer

Feb. 15, 2023 5 AM PT

Listen to this episode of The Times:

The historic Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles reopened in 2021 with a commitment to make it easy for low-income and unhoused people to occupy its rooms. So why have so few people taken advantage of this offer?

Today, we examine why this well-intentioned and funded solution to L.A.‘s homelessness crisis is having trouble fulfilling its original vision. Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times Fast Break reporter Jaimie Ding

More reading:

A year after opening 600 rooms to L.A.’s unhoused, the Cecil Hotel is still mostly empty. Here’s why

LA Times Today: A year after opening 600 rooms to L.A.’s unhoused, the Cecil Hotel is still mostly empty

Once a den of prostitution and drugs, the Cecil Hotel in downtown L.A. is set to undergo a $100-million renovation

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About The Times

“The Times” is produced by Denise Guerra, Kasia Broussalian, David Toledo and Ashlea Brown. Our editorial assistants are Roberto Reyes and Nicolas Perez. Our engineers are Mario Diaz, Mark Nieto and Mike Heflin. Our fellow is Helen Li. Our editor is Kinsee Morlan. Our executive producers are Jazmin Aguilera, Heba Elorbany and Shani Hilton. And our theme music is by Andrew Eapen.

Podcasts California Housing & Homelessness The Times Podcast

Helen Li was a member of the 2022-23 Los Angeles Times Fellowship class. She grew up in Richmond, Va., and graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, where she studied international development. After working as a university teacher through the Princeton in Asia fellowship in China and Nepal, she pivoted to freelance journalism and fact-checking. During the 2020 elections, she collaborated remotely with a team of volunteers to produce “Fresh Off the Vote,” an explanatory podcast about Asian American civic engagement. These collective experiences brought her to The Times, where she worked for the podcast, Business and newsletter teams. She aspires to learn more about the human experience through different forms of storytelling.

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