Delivered on January 29, 2024
Good morning!
I’m George. And on behalf of the nearly 11,000 hardworking men and women at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, I’m so pleased to be here and to celebrate Project 6th with you! This is yet another project helping transform the communities – that we at LADWP – both come from and serve.
We’re stronger together.
Since Mayor Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness and launched the “Inside Safe” initiative, we’ve come together across the City Family to help LA build more affordable shelter, faster than ever before.
At LADWP, a key part of our response is Project PowerHouse, a new program that partners with developers like Sola to power-up these important housing projects faster.
When new buildings like this one come online, we have to upgrade all of the power infrastructure in the public right-of-way. That’s hard work… and it’s expensive. And it also used to take a long time.
But under Project PowerHouse, LADWP staff developed new ways to speed-up our internal processes. These power needs are now addressed at the beginning of a project’s planning phase, rather than near the end of the LA City Planning timeline. And for 100% affordable housing projects, LADWP takes on the costs of those upgrades.
Since the program launched last March, we’ve cut the time for review, engineering, and construction by 86%. And as of this month, the Project PowerHouse team has completed 46 projects and energized a total of 2,528 new affordable housing units.
But there’s still work to be done.
We have 265 more projects on the books. And we’re working hard. Our staff, engineers, and crews come from neighborhoods like San Pedro. We know that this is so much more than just another construction site. We’ve watched projects like this one provide stability, develop community, and help our neighbors live with dignity.
Water and power are two key ingredients that transform a structure into a safe and supportive home.
I answered the Mayor’s call to join LADWP after spending more than a decade helping families all over the country get their homes hooked up to running water and electricity for the first time. I’ve seen first-hand the way a safe and supportive home transforms lives.
Housing is a basic human right.
It is extremely gratifying to know that we’re doing our part to address this crisis in Los Angeles hand-in-hand with everyone here today. Let’s continue this work together. Congratulations on this incredible project – and thank you!
