Announcement from CEO Mike Alvidrez

Dear Friends,

After 27 years at Skid Row Housing Trust, including 13 years as Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, I have decided to step down as CEO next year to allow new leadership to advance the Trust’s mission.

I have made this decision with a sense of fulfillment that many of my professional efforts have been realized. The public perception of supportive housing has forever changed thanks to our partnerships with renowned architects to design beautiful residential and community spaces that foster reconnection, healing, and dignity. Housing First, a model that Skid Row Housing Trust began piloting in the early 2000s, is now a nationally-recognized best practice for serving homeless individuals that many once thought to be “unreachable.” And the Trust’s affiliate Property Management Company is a model of blended management that puts a premium on keeping our formerly-homeless tenants successfully housed long term.

Additionally, there is increasing public awareness of the value that permanent supportive housing brings to our communities. Skid Row Housing Trust advocated strongly for the passage of both Prop HHH and Measure H, which will provide significant local support for both capital development of supportive housing as well as the intensive wraparound services needed to help stabilize the lives of formerly-homeless people in permanent supportive housing. Nevertheless, the disheartening increase in our region’s homeless population is a call to action to redouble our collective efforts to end homelessness, and today the Trust is well situated to answer the call.

It is time for me, the executive team, and the Board of Directors of Skid Row Housing Trust to plan a successful transition of the Chief Executive Offer role.  I have communicated to our Board that I will stay on as CEO for at least another year so that a succession plan can be finalized and a thorough, intensive search for the most qualified person to assume the role of CEO can be accomplished.  It is the Board’s and my joint decision to continue to stay on at the Trust as an ambassador after the successful succession.

It has been the honor of my professional life to lead such a wonderful organization that is unafraid to take on one of the most challenging issues of our time – ending homelessness.  Skid Row Housing Trust has become known for its innovation in housing production and services delivery, its thought leadership, and its commitment to finding decent and humane solutions to homelessness.  Without reservation, I am supremely confident that the Trust will maintain its leadership role in the coming years.

The Trust will send out public notifications when it is ready to accept applications for the CEO position.  In the meantime, I am looking forward to an exciting final year as CEO and in making a successful hand-off to my successor.

My deepest gratitude to everyone who has supported my efforts and those of Skid Row Housing Trust. Thank you helping us touch the lives of tens of thousands of homeless and low-income men and women with your generous confidence and support.

Very Truly Yours,

Mike Alvidrez
Chief Executive Officer

Crest Apartments Celebrates Grand Opening in Van Nuys

Skid Row Housing Trust, a nationally-recognized developer of permanent supportive housing, celebrated the Grand Opening of its latest development, Crest Apartments, today. Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, U.S. Representative Tony Cárdenas, and Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian, as well as architect Michael Maltzan of Michael Maltzan Architecture spoke at the celebration, which was attended by formerly-homeless residents, key partners, and community supporters.

Crest Apartments provides 64 homes to Los Angeles County’s most vulnerable homeless individuals, with comprehensive onsite supportive services to help them build healthier and more stable lives. All of Crest Apartments’ permanent supportive housing is reserved for homeless individuals who are frequent utilizers of Los Angeles County’s Department of Health Services’ emergency care, including 23 apartments set aside specifically for homeless veterans. “Permanent supportive housing reduces residents’ reliance on expensive public health care, decreasing emergency room and inpatient admissions by 77%,” said Mike Alvidrez, the Trust’s Chief Executive Officer. “A home, when paired with appropriate support services, is the most effective and compassionate solution to homelessness, and ultimately reduces public costs.”

Crest Apartments is certified LEED for Homes Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council, public transit accessible, and within walking distance of many community resources. It is the Trust’s second development completed outside of Downtown Los Angeles, and is an example of the organization’s continued commitment to providing housing options for formerly homeless individuals. “We help people transition from chronic homelessness by offering a home that is healthy, inviting and dignified,” said Dana Trujillo, the Trust’s Chief Investment and Finance Officer. “Through extensive experience, we’ve found that the physical environment is an important part of the recovery and healing process.”

Designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture, Crest Apartments has inviting, light-filled spaces distributed throughout the five-story, 45,000 square-foot project. The building’s arched form stretches the length of the narrow site, lifting above a verdant landscape that stretches across the entire ground level. Resident community spaces and social service offices are located on this lower level. “The building’s architecture and landscape form an interwoven relationship between the building and its context, between inside and out,” notes architect Michael Maltzan. “This interconnected approach strengthens the environmental performance of the building. But more importantly, it creates a series of spaces and places for the residents to come together as a community.” Connected by broad open-air pathways, individual studio apartments are on the building’s upper levels. Each apartment includes a private bathroom, kitchen, appliances, and furnishings.

Between 2015 and 2016, the San Fernando Valley experienced a 36% increase in homeless individuals, one of the largest increases in the entire County. The Trust is partnering with San Fernando Valley-based L.A. Family Housing to provide comprehensive case management, and The John Stewart Company for property management services. Trust residents are connected with a wide array of services, including: physical healthcare services, mental health services, substance abuse and detoxification services, counseling, peer support groups, life skills and employment training.

The Grand Opening of Crest Apartments was generously sponsored by Union Bank. Contact Heidi Genrich, Skid Row Housing Trust Communications Manager, at email hidden; JavaScript is required if you would like to learn more about Crest Apartments or the celebration.

Development Team

Developer: Skid Row Housing Trust

Architect: Michael Maltzan Architecture

Contractor: Morley Builders/Benchmark Contractors

Service Provider: L.A. Family Housing

Property Management: The John Stewart Company

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 Six Recognized by American Institute of Architects for Excellence in Design

Skid Row Housing Trust’s The Six, a permanent supportive housing property designed by Brooks + Scarpa for formerly homeless individuals and veterans in MacArthur Park, receives the 2017 Institute Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) at the AIA Conference on Architecture in Orlando, FL today. The Institute Honor Awards are AIA’s highest recognition for excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design. Selected from roughly 700 submissions, The Six is one of 23 recipients located throughout the world that are being honored this year. It is the only project selected in Southern California.

The Six will also receive a 2017 AIA Housing Design Award, which celebrates homes that combine beauty, safety, and sustainability. The Six is specifically recognized for affordable housing design that meets the specialized needs of residents. “The Six was designed from the ground up to facilitate healing and community both within and beyond the building’s walls,” said Mike Alvidrez, CEO of Skid Row Housing Trust.

The Six offers 52 beautiful, safe, and supportive homes to individuals who have experienced homelessness, with 18 of them set aside specifically for veterans. In the military, “got your six” means “I’ve got your back.” Brooks + Scarpa’s innovative design thoughtfully balances privacy with opportunities to connect with the community. The Six has onsite supportive services and 24-hour property management on the ground floor, and a spacious courtyard and community rooms on the second floor that offer peaceful respite and space for social gatherings. A bridge on the fifth floor spans the front of the courtyard, a gesture that helps to bring the scale of the building down to a more pedestrian level, and heightens the interior-exterior connectivity of the courtyard and streetscape. Incorporating energy-efficiency measures that exceed standard practice, including passive design strategies that maximize natural light and airflow, The Six received LEED Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Located in MacArthur Park, Los Angeles, The Six is a striking addition to a neighborhood that has one of highest population densities the United States. It is an example of the innovative projects Measure HHH could help fund throughout the City of Los Angeles. “We intentionally design our buildings so that they stand out as iconic, community-serving, architectural landmarks,” said Dana Trujillo, the Trust’s Chief Investment and Finance Officer. “We want to tell residents that they are important through the building that’s now their home.”

You can read more about The Six in Co.Design.

The Six Innovative Design The Six Innovative Design The Six Innovative Design

On skid row, rebuilding a dream one mosaic at a time

Piece by Piece, a partner of Skid Row Housing Trust, is featured in the Los Angeles Times to demonstrate the impact of funding for the arts. Piece by Piece offers low-income and formerly homeless individuals free mosaic art workshops that develop soft skills, build self-confidence, and create opportunities to earn income.

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?

“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.

Downtown L.A. businesses try outreach to find permanent housing for the homeless

LA Times: He sat on a pillow atop a plastic bucket, crocheting. A man and woman approached. They were agents of the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. He would be their first contact in Pershing Square, which by midmorning was already filling with homeless people, or those who appeared to be.