Housing and Homelessness Committee Memorandum
TO: HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS DATE: JANUARY 22, 2024
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
FROM: DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING & WARDS: ALL
HUMAN SERVICES
SUBJECT: LIFEARKS’S ALTERNATIVE SHELTER AND INTERIM AND PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING PRODUCT ISSUE:
Receive a presentation from LifeArk on their alternative shelter and interim and permanent supportive housing product designed to create safe, sustainable shelters and affordable housing.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the Committee receive and file the presentation from Lifeark on their alternative shelter and interim and permanent supportive housing product designed to create safe, sustainable shelters and affordable housing.
BACKGROUND:
The Housing & Homelessness Committee has requested presentations on alternative shelter and housing products.
DISCUSSION:
Now more than ever, we need innovative solutions to deal with homelessness, which is a complex and challenging issue. At its core, homelessness could be solved for many if there were sufficient affordable housing units. LifeArk offers a cost effective and highly configurable solution that can be implemented quickly. They seek to design solutions that will revolutionize current notions of housing for people experiencing homelessness.
LifeArk is also designed to provide permanent supportive housing, bridge housing, and emergency shelters with the flexibility in configurations to meet the different needs of different counties and cities.
LifeArk was established in 2017 as a California Social Purpose Corporation with a mission to create safe, sustainable, and affordable homes and shelters. LifeArk modular system is designed to save the lives of people experiencing displacement or substandard shelter because of human or climate disasters. The product is efficiently mass-produced, but incredibly customizable and scalable due to its kit-of-parts system. The system can withstand extreme disasters, such as earthquakes and flooding. Pioneering the use of plastic as load-bearing material in building housing – using plastic as long-lived, durable product that can be used over decades rather than as a single-use disposable material that pollutes our environment.
After six years of intensive research and design and passing rigorous certification criteria, including all fire and life safety tests, LifeArk won Los Angeles (LA) County’s Housing Innovation Challenge in 2019. With the grant award, LifeArk developed permanent supportive housing (PSH) for 18 chronically homeless individuals in El Monte, California. The development cost of this proof-of-concept PSH project was $190,000 per unit, which is very competitive when measured against $596,846 average cost per unit for other homeless PSH projects funded by LA City’s Proposition HHH.
LifeArk has over 20 plans approved by the State of California Housing and Community Development to meet the housing needs within California that include permanent supportive housing for the homeless, affordable housing, shelters, interim housing, student housing, workforce housing and emergency relief housing.
STRATEGIC PLAN:
This item aligns with Strategic Priority #2 - Community Well-Being, Goal 2.1 to facilitate the development of quality and diverse housing developments that are made available and affordable to a wide range of income levels and Goal 2.2 to collaborate with partner agencies to improve household resiliency and reduce the incidence and duration of homelessness.
Community Trust – Riverside is transparent and makes decisions based on sound policy, inclusive community engagement, involvement of City Boards & Commissions, and timely and reliable information. Activities and actions by the City serve the public interest, benefit the City’s diverse populations, and result in greater public good.
Equity – Riverside is supportive of the City’s racial, ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, identity, geographic, and other attributes of diversity and is committed to advancing the fairness of treatment, recognition of rights, and equitable distribution of services to ensure every member of the community has equal access to share the benefits of community progress.
Fiscal Responsibility – Riverside is a prudent steward of public funds and ensures responsible management of the City’s financial resources while providing quality public services to all.
Innovation – Riverside is inventive and timely in meeting the community’s changing needs and prepares for the future through collaborative partnerships and adaptive processes.
Sustainability & Resiliency – Riverside is committed to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future and ensuring the City’s capacity to persevere, adapt and grow during good and difficult times alike.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact related to this staff report.
Prepared by: Michelle Davis, Housing and Human Services Director Certified as to
availability of funds: Kristie Thomas, Finance Director/Assistant Chief Financial Officer Approved by: Mike Futrell, City Manager
Approved as to form: Phaedra A. Norton, City Attorney
Attachment: Presentation
Life Ark Alternative Shelter and Interim and Permanent Supportive Housing Program Product ● Page 9