Hope on Alvarado, a housing project for the homeless, may appear like your average brand-new apartment complex — but inside, things actually look different.
The building is five stories high, has floor-to-ceiling windows and a steel exterior giving it a modern-industrial touch. For the interior, the units are steel containers (like shipping containers loaded at port docks) that have been converted into micro-apartments. The common spaces have amenities and resources that are provided to the apartment’s formerly homeless residents.
Architect Mark Oberholzer who worked on the project admitted that the 87 units are all small, having either 320-square-foot studios or 480-square-foot one-bedroom apartments. Despite being compact, the fully-furnished units have nice flooring and include space-efficient barn doors for the bathrooms.
“But I think that for me, the nicest aspect of the units is the amount of glass,” said Oberholzer. “To me, and I don’t know if everyone would agree, the aesthetic of the building is like more like a high-end condo building. And for people that at first spend a lot of time in their units, having a lot of natural light is important.”
The complex has spaces where people can hang out (like a lounge area with a TV and foosball table) but also have outdoor areas where people who crave privacy can have some me-time.
The apartment complex also has staff to help the residents transition out of homelessness, from accessing key cards and appliances to getting a doctor’s appointment and a driver’s license.
Oberholzer further explained how fast buildings can be built using steel modular housing. The work can begin simultaneously with a foundation being laid and a framework being built because steel containers are converted into apartments off-site. That means the container homes just need to be dropped into their spots and locked together since the bones of the building are already there.
“In L.A. specifically, but also in California, it’s like you can hardly get housing built fast enough for the need. The more time goes by, the more housing gets expensive, the more people being homeless,” said Oberholzer. “And that’s really one of the big things that modular [construction] helps with.”
Three projects like the Hope on Alvarado are scheduled to open around Los Angeles this year.
Image credit: John Bare