A More Humane Approach

The homeless men and women who camp on a sidewalk in Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles say that they can clean up after themselves. City officials, guided by Maureen Kindel of the Board of Public Works, will give them the chance to do that today. The self-help approach is far more humane than recent intimidating sweeps mounted by police and street crews.

To help the homeless at the Towne Avenue encampment, city workers will hand out shovels, brooms and trash bags and then carry away bagged debris. Even if the cleanup works, immaculate sidewalks are no substitute for safe emergency housing.

The city has no legal obligation to provide shelter, although officials have tried hard to meet the growing need. Emergency housing is a county responsibility. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors must in the end provide shelter.

The county supervisors might act with greater urgency if they followed the lead of Kindel, president of the city’s Board of Public Works. She risked ridicule and worse when she went with city crews to Skid Row on Monday, but she did enlist the help of the homeless to keep the streets clean.

A lack of public bathrooms is another persistent problem. County health officials, acting on a complaint, ordered portable toilets removed because they were closer to the sidewalk than the law allows. Officials said that they can be returned if sites are found that comply with health codes.

Alice Callaghan of Las Familias del Pueblo and other friends of the homeless are seeking $75,000 to pay for 10 portable toilets, with guards, that would be open from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. They will first ask the city for the money, although it might be easier to raise with public and private cooperation.

Los Angeles city officials, to their credit, have called off the sweeps of Skid Row. The new spirit will help a bit, for a while, but the sidewalk encampments should be tolerated only until the county provides a permanent response--more emergency shelter.