Half-Empty L.A. Shelter Turns Away Homeless : Officials Cite Safety Problem; Council Expresses Concern but Takes No Action

City officials reported Tuesday that they have had to turn away homeless people from a half-empty shelter in downtown Los Angeles because they do not believe they can safely accommodate more than the 225 people who have been staying there.

The report caused concern among City Council members who said they are concerned that homeless will be left out on the streets in inclement weather. However, the council took no action, leaving the matter of admitting additional homeless into the shelter up to Douglas Ford, general manager of the city Community Development Department.

Ford said that if it rains or turns cold, he will “probably let additional people” above the 225 into the city shelter. But he declined to commit himself to a specific number. And he stood firm to his belief that the city, on a regular basis, should not allow more than 225 homeless into the shelter.

The report, delivered to the City Council on Tuesday, was the latest development in a weeklong effort by the council to aid the homeless. The effort began when, after the deaths of four street people from exposure, the council opened City Hall chambers to the homeless for three nights last week.

Last Friday night, the homeless were moved from City Hall to a vacant building that once served as the city’s print shop in Little Tokyo.

On Tuesday, members of a city task force on the homeless reported that they had to turn away homeless Sunday and Monday nights because each night they had reached a self-imposed limit of 225 people sleeping there, although the shelter at 411 East 1st St. can physically accommodate 600 people.

Ford said the occupancy limit is based on concern about health and safety considerations involved in housing too many people in one place, especially with limited bedding, food and security.

“We have an obligation to provide additional space, not simply to warehouse people like cords of wood,” he told the council, adding that the city should establish additional shelters.

The council last Friday voted to open up another 90 beds at a vacant building at 527 Crocker St. City officials say it will be 10 to 14 days before they expect to make the facility safe for occupancy.

Councilman Ernani Bernardi said he was told that the shelter turned away about 25 homeless Sunday and Monday nights. A homeless organizer contended that the number was 250 each night.

“We opened the door at 10 after 6 p.m. We were full by 6:30,” Zeke Higgins, a member of the homeless group calling itself Justiceville, said in an interview.

Neither members of the city’s task force nor homeless organizers could say where those turned away ended up sleeping.

The task force’s report drew an angry reaction from two council members.

“I think they’re being bureaucratic about it,” Councilman Ernani Bernardi said about the city’s self-imposed limit on the number of homeless at the Little Tokyo shelter.

Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores said the city should not turn away any homeless seeking refuge at the Little Tokyo shelter, even if there aren’t enough beds and food available to accommodate everyone. “Shelter is better than nothing.”

However, neither Bernardi nor Flores pressed the point, such as asking the City Council to order the city departments to accommodate more. Flores said she believes that the city departments will “do the right thing.”