LOS ANGELES — The degraded state of the Sanborn Hotel Apartments is apparent from the sidewalk. Holes have been smashed in the wire-reinforced windows of its front doors. And one of the latches doesn't work, leaving the building open to intruders, who roam the halls at night turning doorknobs, trying to get into open apartments.
Inside, a rancid smell permeates the hallways, begging for Lysol. The manager's office is dark and empty, as residents say it has been since the latest occupant left last summer. In bathroom No. 2 on the second floor there is no water in the toilet but plenty of human waste.
The Sanborn is one of the 29 buildings owned by Skid Row Housing Trust, a nonprofit that has for more than 30 years been a paragon of homeless housing. But the very model that helped it revive some of downtown's oldest hotels is now bringing it down.
