The Times podcast: Why hotel rooms for L.A.’s homeless sit empty
A room at the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Listen to this episode of The Times:
The historic Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles reopened in 2021 with a commitment to make it easy for low-income and unhoused people to occupy its rooms. So why have so few people taken advantage of this offer?
Today, we examine why this well-intentioned and funded solution to L.A.‘s homelessness crisis is having trouble fulfilling its original vision. Read the full transcript here.
Host: Gustavo Arellano
Guests: L.A. Times Fast Break reporter Jaimie Ding
More reading:
A year after opening 600 rooms to L.A.’s unhoused, the Cecil Hotel is still mostly empty. Here’s why
About The Times
“The Times” is produced by Denise Guerra, Kasia Broussalian, David Toledo and Ashlea Brown. Our editorial assistants are Roberto Reyes and Nicolas Perez. Our engineers are Mario Diaz, Mark Nieto and Mike Heflin. Our fellow is Helen Li. Our editor is Kinsee Morlan. Our executive producers are Jazmin Aguilera, Heba Elorbany and Shani Hilton. And our theme music is by Andrew Eapen.
