Located on a 4-acre site brownfield site near downtown Los Angeles, the The Hilda L. Solis Care First Village facility provides 232 beds for people experiencing homelessness. Initiated as a repurposing of a site acquired to replace the Men’s Central Jail with housing services, the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic during the design process reshaped the project in two significant ways. First, each bed is situated in a dedicated room with an adjoining restroom, providing the isolation needed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Second, design, permitting, and construction of the project was aggressively accelerated to meet the heightened need for people living on Los Angeles’s streets in the midst of a pandemic.

In this intensive joint effort, the NAC team worked closely with the general contractor, modular building vendors, and dedicated group of project managers from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. Design, permitting, and construction were overlapped and completed within five months of funding approval by the LA County Board of Supervisors. Extensive soil remediation and infrastructure enhancement was needed to prepare the site. Modular construction supported the concurrent fabrication of buildings at multiple off-site locations. The NAC design team is proud of the fact they remained committed to meeting the individual and collective needs of the residents throughout the development process, ultimately providing in an innovative, dignified housing solution.