Los Angeles will demolish the 74-unit Sunflower Cabin Community in Tarzana after spending $16 million on the site. The teardown comes as Mayor Bass breaks ground on new tiny home builds, sparking a political debate over Homekey spending and homelessness strategy.
*Los Angeles is preparing to tear down a 74-unit tiny home community in Tarzana after spending roughly $16 million to build and operate it. The demolition comes as Mayor * breaks ground on new tiny home projects elsewhere in the city, raising fresh questions about the city's approach to temporary housing.
The Sunflower Cabin Community, located on Metro property near Reseda Boulevard and Oxnard Street in Tarzana, opened in 2021 as part of Los Angeles' pandemic-era push for rapid homeless housing. According to Councilmember Bob Blumenfield's office, the site was always intended to be temporary and will be demobilized by the end of 2026.
In late April, the City Council's Homelessness and Housing Committee voted to approve up to $1.7 million to tear down the facility rather than repair or convert it, according to the New York Post.
Blumenfield's office says residents will be relocated into other housing with services before the property is cleared.
Blumenfield, whose district includes the Tarzana site, said the facility faced ongoing challenges.
"It is no secret that this site had its share of issues," Blumenfield said, according to the California Post. "Over the last few years, I tried to make it a sober site, but due to state and federal rules, this designation would take years at best and cost more to the taxpayers."
Blumenfield told reporters the site struggled with drug use, crime, and mental health issues among residents. He said the facility also lacked strict rules.
The demolition has drawn sharp criticism from political opponents. Independent mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt blasted the spending and the decision to demolish the site.
"It's very obvious that for Nithya Raman and Karen Bass, the homeless problem is just a grift machine for them waste taxpayer dollars," Pratt said, according to Yahoo News. "The mayor's entire MO is chasing good money after bad. She keeps pouring resources into the same failed ideas that never work, so the only conclusion you can draw is that somebody is making money off of all this waste."
Nithya Raman, a socialist mayoral hopeful who chairs the Homelessness and Housing Committee, did not return calls seeking comment despite homelessness being a central issue in the mayoral race.
Alex Stack, Mayor Bass's campaign spokesman, responded pointedly.
"Essentially, the tear down was under the purview of the City Council. And let's not forget that Nithya Raman chairs the powerful Housing and Homelessness Committee," Stack said. "The Mayor announced the opening of a new one to expand the number of beds available."
The timing underscores a broader tension in the city's housing strategy. Just weeks before the Tarzana demolition was announced, Mayor Bass broke ground on a new 50-bed tiny home village in East Hollywood, a project expected to cost taxpayers about $33 million upon completion, according to the mayor's office.
Bass has publicly raced to speed up interim and affordable housing ahead of the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics. She told reporters the city is eyeing municipal land for tiny homes and other quick builds, as discussed in a Bloomberg interview.
Tarzana is not the only interim housing site facing shutdown. City officials are preparing to close or scale back at least five interim housing programs across Los Angeles, including bridge housing shelters and safe parking lots for people living in vehicles, according to the California Post.
Those cuts would eliminate 283 beds and save an estimated $6.8 million in annual operating costs. The city is also weighing whether to shut down nine additional leased sites, many of them hotels or temporary facilities where taxpayers cover both rent and supportive services. Officials estimate those closures could save another $27 million.
The Tarzana site was part of a broader $350 million COVID-era push under then-Mayor Eric Garcetti to rapidly build temporary housing. Statewide, the Homekey program has awarded roughly $3.8 billion in funding for motel conversions and tiny home projects, according to a CalMatters investigation.
City Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo has urged caution, recommending that Los Angeles not demobilize Project Homekey sites until long-term funding is locked in so the city does not end up with empty buildings or people pushed back onto the street, as reported by FOX 11.
Elizabeth Mitchell of the LA Alliance for Human Rights, an organization suing the city and county over its handling of homelessness, criticized the spending pattern.
"They insist on pursuing these outrageously expensive interventions instead of confronting the elephant in the room," Mitchell said, according to the California Post. "What we need is beds that address the mental health and drug crisis on the street."
Fiscal watchdogs and housing advocates say the coming months will show whether the city can reconcile short-term emergency purchases with realistic long-term operating plans. City officials say they are coordinating re-housing for Tarzana residents, but critics warn that the money already spent on projects like Sunflower will be a tough sell unless outcomes start to look more durable.
This article was generated with AI assistance.