Even as lofts and restaurants crept into the edges of skid row, 2,000 homeless people have continued to cling to skid row streets in tents and makeshift lean-tos. Tensions over competing ambitions for the area came to a head Friday, as several dozen skid row activists protested a 33-story apartment tower proposed at 7th and Maple streets, where skid row and the Fashion District meet. The project was approved by the Los Angeles City Planning Commission earlier this month. Darrin Olson of Newport Beach-based Realm real estate, which is co-developing the site with Urban Offerings of Los Angeles, said the projects’ 400 market-rate units will help ease Los Angeles’ housing crisis without displacing a single person. The activists said the low-income offering rang hollow for most skid row residents.

Source: Los Angeles Times September 22, 2017 19:21 UTC