City to Open Another Shelter for Homeless

The Los Angeles City Council took steps Wednesday to open another public building as a shelter for the homeless, as some of its members lashed out at the Board of Supervisors for failing to do its legally required job of providing social services to the poor.

County Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana, however, hotly disputed claims that the county is not doing enough for the homeless. Both also criticized city officials for opening City Hall as a shelter for the homeless.

The developments came one day after the council decided to use City Hall to shelter the homeless through tonight. The action was prompted by the deaths last week of four street people from apparent exposure to near-freezing temperatures.

About 150 people slept in City Hall Tuesday night, said E. Brooks Treidler, assistant general manager of the city Department of General Services, adding that there were no problems.

On Wednesday, the council voted 13 to 0 to open an abandoned city building at 1st Street and Central Avenue in Little Tokyo, once used for the city print shop, to house up to 600 homeless people for 90 days.

Treidler, whose department needs time to make the building safe, said he hopes to have it ready for occupancy Friday night. It was unclear whether the council would extend the use of City Hall as a temporary shelter if he cannot.

Several council members complained that the county and state were abdicating their legal responsibility to help the homeless.

Dispute Over Finances

One of the critics, Councilman Hal Bernson, suggested that the city bill the county and state for the its cost of housing the homeless. Treidler estimated that the city will spend about $2,400, largely for extra security workers, to provide the shelter at City Hall for three days. The cost is expected to go up when the old print shop is opened, but Treidler could not offer an estimate.

“These are state and county responsibilities,” Bernson complained. “We ought to send them a bill, and if we can’t collect, we ought to file a lawsuit.”

Bernson said in an interview that he voted to open City Hall as a homeless shelter as a temporary measure and “to make a statement that somebody’s not doing their job.”

“All of us made a statement yesterday to the appropriate government agencies to get off their duff and do something” about the homeless, Bernson said.

Bernson, a Republican, declined to single out the conservative majority on the Board of Supervisors for criticism. “I know a lot of people would say this is another liberal (issue),” Bernson said. “But you’re dealing with human lives.”

County Policy Defended

Antonovich and Dana, members of the board’s conservative majority, insisted in separate interviews that the county has taken adequate steps to provide food and shelter for the homeless.

Dana said homeless people can obtain county vouchers for free meals and hotel rooms. The vouchers are good until welfare officials can qualify homeless people for general relief, which provides $247 a month and $80 in food stamps.

Dana suggested that the homeless people occupying City Hall could find shelter elsewhere if they sought help from a county welfare office. Antonovich and Dana said they will oppose any efforts to open county buildings to the homeless, contending that “warehousing” the homeless is costly and ineffective.

“The council, by allowing the (homeless) people in their chamber, is not working within the system,” Dana said. “My way of thinking is they should say, ‘You people should go to welfare offices, apply for vouchers.’ ”

Many of the homeless have complained, however, that many of the hotels under contract with the county to provide housing for the homeless are substandard. They also have complained that the general relief does not provide enough money.

Zoning Rule Change

In other developments Wednesday, the council took steps to waive zoning restrictions to allow the St. Vincent de Paul Men’s Center at 231 E. Winston St. to provide shelter to 100 homeless as early as Friday night.

Council members also instructed the city attorney to return Friday with a draft of an ordinance that would allow the council to permit nonprofit charitable groups to take in as many homeless as they can safely accommodate in any zone, subject to council approval. Zoning laws restrict the location and size of homeless shelters.

In another development, federal appeals Judge Harry Pregerson called on the federal government to open the U.S. Courthouse to the homeless.

Pregerson, who sits on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, said he was moved by accounts of the opening of City Hall to street people and the plight of a young woman and her infant who were among the first to seek refuge from the cold.

‘I Would Volunteer’

If necessary, Pregerson said, “I would volunteer to come (to the courthouse at 312 N. Spring St.) and supervise.”

In his hand-delivered letter to Patrick Clear, the federal government’s building manager for the downtown area, including the courthouse, Pregerson said: “Help for our homeless is long overdue. Some have died . . . during the recent cold. . . .

“It is time we did our share. I ask you to consult the appropriate federal authorities about opening the lobby of our building at night as temporary lodging for the homeless.”

Clear could not be immediately reached for comment.

Royal Cochran, his assistant, said clearance would almost certainly have to come from the General Services Administration in Washington, which oversees the management of federal facilities throughout the country.