East LA College (ELAC) Rooftop Student Housing Pilot

Affordable housing and homelessness

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), the largest such district in the U.S., faces an enormous challenge: 55% of LACCD students experience housing insecurity and 19% face homelessness at some point during the year. With a history spanning 77 years, 80% of LACCD students come from underserved backgrounds. Nearly half are 1st generation college students, and it serves 3x as many Latino students and nearly 4x as many African-American students compared to all University of California campuses combined. In order to reach the LA2050 vision of a more equitable, thriving, engaged, and empowered LA, this community needs support. Students who do not know where they will sleep or eat cannot thrive. We are launching an innovative proof-of-concept pilot at LACCD’s East Los Angeles College (ELAC), the state’s largest community college, to address critical housing insecurity among students, essential to meeting the school’s mission of providing accessible, transformative education.

A collaborative student-led initiative between ELAC, Gensler, DignityMoves, and Jovenes to address the acute need for affordable housing among LACCD students, particularly Transitional Age Youth (TAY) and LGBTQ+ populations, our proposal targets the conversion of underutilized parking garage rooftops into affordable housing units. The pilot site at ELAC's parking structure can house at least 120 beds, offering both interim and permanent student housing solutions, with Jovenes providing critical wraparound services that lead to better health, educational, and economic outcomes. This initiative not only aims to alleviate the immediate housing needs, but also incorporates sustainable practices, including renewable energy generation through solar panels and urban agriculture via hydroponic growhouses. Our project aims to pilot a cost-effective and scalable model with significant larger implications. There are over 40 publicly-owned rooftops in LA County–or 2 million square feet–that could accommodate up to 3,000 beds of affordable housing. LA2050 grant funds will specifically cover pre-development expenses, student internships, and help pilot the creation of a prototype for cost-effective and scalable student housing. With over 55% of LACCD students facing housing insecurity, this crisis demands an innovative solution that can be built in ½ the time and at a ⅓ of the cost, one that can be replicated at other college campuses, county-owned parking garages, and all over the state.

Successful execution of this pilot will demonstrate an impactful and necessary new tool in addressing the housing and homelessness crisis in LA, specifically as it affects housing insecure students. With over 2 million square feet of usable rooftops around LA County, this pilot may prove revolutionary in this long stagnant policy area, providing a path to creating much needed housing for this vulnerable population. This grant will support necessary activities at the pre-development stage of the pilot, including supporting student interns with Gensler and DignityMoves, and prepare us well for efficient development. By June 2025 we aim to have the pilot site completed and serving students, demonstrating the viability of this innovative and cost-effective approach as a scalable solution that can be replicated across LACCD and beyond, like other community college districts and to serve the general unhoused Transitional Age Youth and LGBTQ+ populations in Los Angeles County.

We define success as the completion of the ELAC Rooftop Student Housing Pilot, which will house at least 120 students/year for the next 30 years. DignityMoves and Gensler have worked together to build over 500 interim and permanent supportive housing units in 3 years. With over 1,000 units in our pipeline, we can house over 10,000 people experiencing homelessness in the next 5 years. In the grant period, success will be defined by completion of the predevelopment phase of the pilot, including the creation of drawings for the purposes of costing and scheduling, hiring student interns, and production of a prototype for cost-effective and scalable student housing. To support construction, we will catalyze public-private partnerships and leverage existing resources, including $5.3 billion in LACCD bond funding authorized by Measure LA. With a strong track record in ensuring successful student outcomes through their College-Focused Case Management, Jovenes will direct services at the site.

DignityMoves is the Developer/Team Lead and is responsible for securing funding and approvals, and overall project management including managing the Architect and General Contractor, and ensuring the project is completed on time and on budget.
ELAC is the Client and with LACCD, owner of the subject site. ELAC and LACCD are responsible for funding the construction of the project. ELAC asked its own design students to explore this pilot project as a solution to their own housing crisis.
Gensler is the Architect and is responsible for the overall design of the project and consultant coordination including the modular partner.
Jovenes is the Service Provider and is responsible for providing wrap-around services to the student residents through their College Success Initiative program.