AHF to City Hall: ‘SOS – Save Our SROs!’

Scores of housing Advocates to testify at Wednesday’s (July 27) Los Angeles City Council Meeting to urge City Council to preserve the city’s single room occupancy buildings (SROs) as future affordable housing

A platoon of housing advocates affiliated with AHF and its housing advocacy division, Housing Is A Human Right (HHR), will attend and testify at this Wednesday’s Los Angeles City Council meeting (July 27, meeting commences at 10:00 a.m.). The advocates will urge City Council Members and other city officials to do what it takes to preserve the city’s supply of single room occupancy buildings (SROs) as future affordable housing at a time when the L.A. homeless crisis continues to escalate.

“We will be pressing the city to preserve Los Angeles’ single room occupancy buildings and to stop allowing owners to leave them in disrepair or vacant for years and to also stop developers from demolishing or converting these properties into luxury units,” said Susie Shannon, policy director for Housing Is A Human Right. “The affordable housing crisis in the city of Los Angeles is only getting worse. SROs are a much-needed resource to combat homelessness, as the buildings allow very low-income, single, homeless individuals the opportunity to obtain adequate housing. City Council should use its powers to help preserve SROs like the Morrison, the Holland and others and to do more to get hotels like the Cecil—with 601 rooms, but only about 60 currently filled—fully leased-up as housing for those in need.”

AHF/Housing Is A Human Right Housing Ads in the L.A. Times

As part of its developing “SOS!” advocacy campaign (Save Our SROs!), AHF and Housing Is A Human Right have run a series of ads in the Los Angeles Times over the past month. These include ads headlined: “City Hall: Save LA’s SROs” (June 26, 2022); “City Hall: Save the Morrison!” (July 3, 2022) and “City Hall: Save the Holland” (July 10, 2022) and most recently, “S.O.S. - Save Our SROs” (July 24, 2022).

Since 2017, AHF through its Healthy Housing Foundation (HHF) has purchased, restored, and re-occupied a total of 13 single room occupancy buildings, totaling 1,405 rooms at a low cost, conclusively providing everyday Angelinos with the access to desperately needed affordable housing for the city of Los Angeles.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.6 million individuals in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth, follow us @aidshealthcare or subscribe to our AHF podcast “AHFter Hours.”

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SROs are a much-needed resource to combat homelessness, as the buildings allow very low-income, single, homeless individuals the opportunity to obtain adequate housing. City Council should use its powers to help preserve SROs as future affordable housing.