3 found dead in building operated by troubled Skid Row Housing Trust; drugs suspected

Three people were found dead Wednesday inside a building in downtown Los Angeles, authorities said.

The bodies, one female adult and two male adults, were discovered inside 649 Lofts, a building that provides housing to underprivileged residents in the skid row area. A community medical facility is housed on the first floor.

A law enforcement source with knowledge of the case said detectives suspected the deaths were tied to drug overdoses, possibly involving fentanyl.

But they stressed the investigation was in its early stages.

The incident occurred at a property owned by Skid Row Housing Trust, a nonprofit housing provider whose buildings have become so distressed that last week Mayor Karen Bass and City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto asked for a court-appointed receiver to take them over. Earlier this year, the organization’s interim chief executive acknowledged that the trust could no longer support its 29 residential buildings — many of them operating in the red — and appealed for others on firmer financial footing to take them over.

Conditions at some properties, including those dating from the early 20th century, have deteriorated, with broken doors, toilets and windows and no security or on-site management.

Opened in 2021, 649 Lofts is one of the trust’s newest buildings, with 54 studio apartments. But it too has had serious problems. One tenant with arthritis and nerve damage told The Times last month that she was trapped for more than two weeks on the fifth floor after the elevator broke down, and that intruders were common.

“These continuing deaths on skid row are absolute tragedies and exactly why we took unprecedented action to place these properties in receivership,” Bass said in a statement to The Times on Wednesday.

In Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, Steven Son, a deputy city attorney, described the situation as a “humanitarian emergency,” adding that conditions have deteriorated in the buildings so much that there are “truly life safety issues.”

He said 24-hour fire watches were required because the alarm systems were not functioning.”Anything could happen,” Son said. A judge postponed a decision on the city’s receivership request.

The Times reported on increasingly grim conditions at some Skid Row Housing Trust buildings in March.

649 Lofts resident Yolanda Cunningham Smith, a Navy veteran with severe mobility issues, described problems with security and intruders. “The other day I went to the trash chute,” Smith said, “I opened the door. There was somebody inside the room. They were hitting the pipe.”

The trust could not immediately be reached for comment.

Los Angeles Fire Department officials said the call came at 3:14 p.m. Wednesday.