Four months after Sherman Oaks homeowners association members pushed LA City Councilman David Ryu for particulars on a potential new senior homeless housing site, Ryu has nixed one potential emergency shelter and given residents what they really wanted – the address of the new one.

The councilman shared a letter to constituents Friday, reporting that he will be supporting the construction of a supportive housing site for senior citizens ages 62 and older who have experienced homelessness. Non-profit low income housing organization Mercy Housing is slated to develop the project at 14534-14536 Burbank Boulevard.

Ryu also announced he is nixing the exploration of an emergency homeless shelter at 5161 Sepulveda Blvd., proposed in August as part of Mayor Garcetti’s bridge housing initiative. After a months-long long tug of war with the U.S. Army – owner and manager of the land – he wrote that the property is “no longer considered a viable option” and cited the Army Reserve’s refusal to let them access the property.

“The Army Reserve’s lack of response to both the City of Los Angeles as well as Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office is evidence of their unwillingness to help local partners take on serious issues,” according to the councilman’s letter.

The federal agency was in talks to facilitate a visit and preliminary assessment of the site, but pulled out citing Anti-Terrorism Force Protection standards.

Feinstein wrote a letter urging a regional army colonel in October to “do better,” citing a humanitarian crisis of homelessness facing Los Angeles. “Every level of government needs to devote more resources and establish public-private partnerships to combat homelessness,” she wrote.

A spokesperson for the Army Reserve could not be reached prior to publication of this article.

This marks the second dissolution of a Ryu homeless housing initiative in Sherman Oaks, the first being at 15314 Dickens St. just off Ventura Boulevard. The site was recommended by the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council and the community homeowner’s association, but subject to clamorous opposition nonetheless.

At a November Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association meeting, Councilman Ryu told residents he would take the City Administrative Officer’s recommendation to drop the proposed Dickens site, continue pursuing Sepulveda, and hinted at a potential new senior supportive housing project.

“This development would have a meaningful impact for our homeless population, and it would provide much-needed housing for the most vulnerable among us,” wrote the councilman in his Friday letter of the new Burbank project. “While homelessness in LA County went down slightly last year, it surged by 22% for people 62 years and older.”

Vice President for Real Estate Development at Mercy California Ed Holder said Monday that the project has been in the works since September. “We were contacted by the property owner, who had entitled the site in 2017 for up to 58 guest beds for assisted living and memory care,” he said. “Then Mercy reached out to the councilman’s office as we do with any other project.”

Mercy has applied for $12 million in Proposition HHH funding to develop the quarter-acre property at the corner of Van Nuys and Burbank Boulevard in northern Sherman Oaks. The project is still in initial stages of the city’s design and review process, but the organization aims to hold a planning commission meeting this summer and visit local neighborhood councils. Proposition HHH is a $1.2 billion bond measure passed by voters in 2016.

Mercy Housing owns five other low-income supportive and senior housing properties in Los Angeles, and is building a sixth in the Pico Robertson area. The City’s Homelessness and Poverty Committee will hear a recommendation this Wednesday by the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department to grant the project funding.

This article has been corrected to accurately reflect that residents of this possible senior supportive housing site must be age 62 and above, not 65.