Local News in Brief : Housing Plan Abandoned

Mayor Tom Bradley has decided to abandon a proposal to bring $6.3 million worth of prefabricated dormitory-style buildings and apartment units to Los Angeles to house the homeless after running into difficulties finding locations for them, city officials said Tuesday.

Churches, charities and developers all rejected requests to place the units, said Deputy Mayor Mike Gage, even though 800 letters were sent out. Community Redevelopment Agency officials said they received only one response.

The CRA offered special financing to developers who used the 240 prefab apartments, but the buildings, owned by a Utah company, turned out to be either 56 or 76 feet wide, making them difficult to place on average lots in the city, which are 50 feet wide, officials said.

In addition, locations could not be found for 30 dorm-style structures, also stored in Utah.

Fred MacFarlane, a Bradley spokesman, said part of the problem was “resistance in the City Council to siting these units. In a sense, you had a situation where you were (trying to) put these prefabricated apartments in spots where residents feel as though they are being put upon by a population they don’t want.”

MacFarlane said Bradley personally asked the City Council to consider making the purchase, “but there were never any steps made in the council, to my knowledge, to adopt the purchase plans.”