A bold form mixes public and private spaces in Brooks + Scarpa’s latest supportive housing project

Architect’s Newspaper: The new 52-unit permanent supportive-housing project for formerly homeless individuals, many of them veterans, designed by Los Angeles firm Brooks + Scarpa, takes its name—The Six—from military slang for a person who “has your back.” The project is Skid Row Housing Trust (SRHT)’s first outside Downtown Los Angeles, and it continues the organization’s very successful run developing functional, neighborhood-scale, and formally transformative housing.

Sleek new supportive housing complex planned for Skid Row

Curbed LA: Another major new affordable housing development may be on the way to Skid Row, where sleek new projects like Michael Maltzan’s Star Apartments have been rising lately amid the aging single resident occupancy hotels that have served residents for decades.

Urbanize LA spotted renderings of the project in a presentation reviewed Tuesday by the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee.

The Hilton Family’s Spiritual Entrepreneurship

Barron’s Penta:

Hilton’s homeless program is not just good philanthropy, it’s changing lives for the better.

Building a Downtown LA for everyone

Curbed LA: How does a city keep one of its hottest neighborhoods from becoming just another enclave of the superrich?

What Are the Social Determinants of Health?

RAND Corporation: America spends more on health care than any other nation in the world. Yet from birth to old age, Americans live shorter, sicker lives than people in most other wealthy countries.

A two-year research project at RAND adds some weight to a theory that might explain why. It found better health outcomes in countries that spend more on social safety-net programs like child care subsidies or old-age benefits—even when they spend less on hospital stays and medical tests.

Health care alone, in other words, can only go so far to promote health. Evidence has been accumulating for years that where and how people live plays at least as important a role in how well, and how long.

The $25K Pod That Could Ease L.A.’s Homelessness Crisis

Fast Company Co.Design: Every night, an estimated 50,000 people sleep on the streets of Los Angeles—a figure that’s skyrocketed by 35% in the last year alone. The problem is so bad that the mayor has declared a state of emergency, and in November, L.A. voters approved a $1.2 billion bond to build 10,000 apartment units over the next decade for the chronically homeless. But it takes two to five years to build this kind of permanent housing because of the city’s complex building code and zoning rules—and the city needs a fix right now.

Homeless Service Providers Urge Feds to Keep HUD Funds Flowing

KQED: President Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, retired surgeon Ben Carson, has no experience in housing or homeless services. He’s never held elected office or a government job.

“Good Design Is A Basic Civil Right:” A Housing Project For Homeless Vets

Fast Company Co.Design: Designed by Brooks +Scarpa, The Six offers housing and support services to one of the city’s most vulnerable populations.

The Six Affordable Veteran Housing

Architect Magazine: The Six, a new affordable housing project in Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park neighborhood, is, at first glance, a bit of a formal puzzle. As seen from the east, with its giant opening into a courtyard, the newest building for the Skid Row Housing Trust looks like a big white Möbius strip, a beguiling sequence of balconies, stairways, and overlooks. Yet all this aesthetic complexity serves a very important purpose: The building’s 52 below-market-rate apartments are reserved for disabled veterans, and the scheme, from local architects Brooks + Scarpa, is in fact a carefully crafted system for fostering a sense of community.

7 Myths About Homelessness In Los Angeles

LA Weekly: By nearly every metric, Los Angeles has the worst homelessness crisis of any city in America. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, there are more people suffering from chronic homelessness in L.A. than anywhere in the country, and their number is growing at a faster clip than those in New York City.