A man walks past Micah Ray outside the Haskell single-room occupancy hotel in Skid Row in February. Ray, 55, says living in the building is better than a tent but otherwise dismal. (Robert Gauthier / ...

Thirty years ago, when the Produce Hotel fell into disrepair, a newly formed nonprofit, the Skid Row Housing Trust, acquired and rehabilitated the turn-of-the-century building, restoring the brick ...