By Angelica C. Gualpa
Even if you are the state and county government, you can’t fight City Hall.
The axium rang like a bell after the Los Angeles-based nonprofit servicing the homeless population withdrew its application to build a supportive housing facility for the homeless in the heart of Downtown Torrance.
“This outcome reflects the collective efforts of the City Council and the community. Residents, businesses, and community organizations actively advocated for their concerns, ensuring that their voices were heard throughout the process,” wrote the City of Torrance on its website this week following the announcement that the nonprofit Weingart Center withdrew its HomeKey+ application to convert the Extended Stay America Hotel at 3525 Torrance Blvd into a 120-unit permanent supportive housing facility.
HomeKey+ is California’s permanent housing initiative, part of the Behavioral Health Infrastructure Bond Act (Proposition 1). It funds the conversion of existing motels and hotels into supportive housing for people with serious mental illness or substance use disorder—offering wraparound services like case management, healthcare, and counseling.
But after Los Angeles County, alongside Weingart Center, submitted a HomeKey+ application to convert the Extended Stay America Hotel, the Torrance City Council held a special meeting open to the public in May. At this meeting, the council unanimously rejected the project and formally requested that the California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD) reject the site.
However, on May 27, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the project, despite the City’s formal opposition.
Then on June 2, the City made its next move and contacted the offices of Governor Gavin Newsom, State Senator Ben Allen, Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, and U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
A few days later, the City formally requested that the HCD deny the proposed project based on the lack of community engagement, inappropriate site selection, unresolved service capacity issues, financial concerns regarding the inflated purchase price, and strong local opposition.
At the end of June, Torrance Mayor George K. Chen and City staff met at Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office in San Pedro to present alternative sites for the proposed Homekey+ location.
During the meeting, Hahn heard the City’s plea to exclude the Torrance Boulevard site from the County’s application and to consider more viable, community-aligned options. Among the sites, the City suggested included the Torrance Regional Transit Center and the Civic Center Campus.
After Torrance pointed out the project’s financial inefficiency, including its high acquisition cost of the hotel property and the long-term challenges associated with funding and operational sustainability, the Board of Supervisors threw in the towel and declared, figuratively speaking, “No mas.”
And this week, Torrance announced on its City website that the application was officially withdrawn.
Throughout the protracted fight, however, the City maintained that it is willing to continue doing its fair share as a municipality to fight homelessness.
“Torrance supports permanent supportive and temporary housing solutions that are responsibly located, properly sized, and developed in compliance with community input, such as the City’s 3290 Temporary Housing Village,” it wrote on its website.
