LA celebrates groundbreaking of city's first Project Homekey renovation

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- During those scorching hot days in the San Fernando Valley, those who are particularly vulnerable are unhoused residents.

It is in part why many are now celebrating what is described as an accelerated permanent housing development near Sepulveda and Roscoe boulevards.

"The Pano is designed specifically for single adults all who have experienced chronic homelessness and generally live with some other coexisting mental or physical health disorder," said Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, the president and CEO of LA Family Housing.

The Pano is a play on the decades-old Panorama Motel, which is being renovated.

"It's an adaptive reuse of the motel into apartments and it's also new construction," said Klasky-Gamer.

"This is a motel that was dilapidated here in the Valley, and as a Valley girl, I'm excited to be able to produce something beautiful in our community," said LAFH Builds Executive Director Elda Mendez-Lemus.

It's the first Project Homekey renovation in the city of Los Angeles, part of the statewide initiative to turn motels into homes. LA Family Housing said the $60 million project was funded in part through more than $45 million in local, state, and federal aid, as well as $10 million from philanthropy.

"It is morally necessary to solve the problem of homelessness," said Peter Laugharn, CEO of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

The tenants who will eventually move in will also have access to social and mental health resources.

"It's a place for you to change your life and to be able to transition out of, maybe, something very difficult that came. You know, we say all the time, 'We're two paychecks away from becoming homeless ourselves,'" said Mendez-Lemus.

The grand opening is expected in about a year and a half.