Skid Row Housing Trust

Our Skid Row transforms the homeless capital of LA into a thriving neighborhood with people, placemaking, and participatory design

Skid Row 2050 will re-imagine how Skid Row can be transformed into a thriving and sustainable neighborhood that embodies social equity and urban revitalization. Our goal is to create a community-driven housing and neighborhood development plan that prioritizes people and place-making. As the homeless capital of the country, Skid Row is often perceived of as the landmark of social and physical blight: there needs to be a new focused effort to reframe Skid Row as a community of permanently housed residents rather than a space of transition or social isolation. With thousands of long-term residents who call this place home, the neighborhood can no longer be a remnant of the city, shaped by unplanned and unintended development. By re-visioning this area in a cohesive and impactful way, we can begin to stitch Skid Row back into the fabric of Los Angeles.

Our proposed project will lay the groundwork to create a neighborhood development plan through the following three phases- 1) community engagement and research with current and local residents 2) design sessions with national leaders in community development and design, and 3) public exhibition of the community process and visions for Skid Row in 2050.

Phase 1: Community Engagement and Research
The first phase is comprised of interactive design workshops with community members to get their priorities at the core of research. We will develop engagement tools that include a mobile planning kiosk, graphic surveys, and models for interactive design sessions. The outreach and research will serve as a needs assessment for housing, essential public amenities, necessary social services, and public safety. We will look for threats that weaken the social structure and jeopardize the stability of the neighborhood, preventing continuous and positive growth. We will evaluate existing resources and cultural assets, exploring the positives that exist today in the area, something that is often under-exposed. Using the participatory research from Phase 1, we will create a programmatic framework of opportunity for community and housing development.

Phase 2: Design Sessions with Leaders and Community members
The second phase will be a series of design and policy workshops to create a vision of Skid Row in the year 2050. Using the eight indicators developed by LA2050 as a framework for conversation, we will invite thought leaders and community members to brainstorm how the neighborhood priorities would physically manifest in the built environment. We will also design funding opportunities and generate policy recommendations needed to implement the development plan. We plan to invite cross-disciplinary leaders in the field of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, financing and lending, philanthropy, and policy. From the working design sessions, we will produce drafts of a comprehensive neighborhood development plan for Skid Row 2050.

Phase 3: Public Exhibition and Dialog
The third phase will be a public exhibition of the process of developing Skid Row 2050. On display will be the engagement tools, direct community input gathered, and synthesized plans from the working sessions. We plan to curate a series of lectures and community events alongside the public exhibition.

The proposal starts with big ideas and speculation on the possibilities of the future of Skid Row, but we seek to map out concrete steps needed in the short-term, so that we can attain the 2050 vision. Skid Row can embody all the positive indicators of a flourishing city, composed of sustainable affordable housing, safe attractive public spaces, and economic opportunity, that is connected to the larger region.