West Knoll Residents’ Return Delayed, But More Are Now Living in WeHo

Residents of the L.A. County Housing Authority building at 848 N. West Knoll Drive who were displaced in September because of a rainstorm now aren’t likely to return until February.

The Housing Authority earlier had projected that residents of the 135-unit building would be back in place this month. But Emilio Salas, the authority’s deputy executive director, said the damage from the rainstorm flooding was much worse than was anticipated.

“The water damage permeated throughout the building,” Salas said. “Once they started ripping out the walls it was evident that the time would be much longer. Some of these units are down to the studs, they have no walls, no floor.”

The September evacuation followed an earlier one that occurred in July and was caused by an out of season rainstorm. Residents were allowed to return to their homes the first week of September after repairs to water-damaged units were completed and a temporary roof was installed. The building houses 150 seniors

A large number of residents evacuated in September were housed at the Marriott hotel near the Burbank Airport. Others stayed with family members and friends. Those evacuated to Burbank complained about losing access to their neighborhood in West Hollywood where they could walk for a cup of coffee and have easy access to doctors and other services.

Salas said the housing authority has responded by moving many of those housed in Burbank back to West Hollywood. “Initially every one was taken to the Marriott Hotel at Burbank and about half of them the remainder stayed with families and friends,” he said. “Since then we secured several different location.  They are all within the City of West Hollywood. We also offered the Le Parc hotel. We have a little over 30 residents that opted to stay at Le Parc. A little over 20 wanted to remain at the Marriott at Burbank.”

Salas said made a point of calling out the assistance offered the authority by the City of West Hollywood and Mayor Lindsey Horvath. “I want to give a lot of credit to the leadership of the City of West Hollywood, especially the mayor, who has facilitated the process,” he said.