The Homeless and the Quake

The Downtown Women’s Center, a daytime haven for the women of Skid Row, has focused public attention and private money on the concerns of the homeless and the mentally ill since it opened in 1978. Now the center may provide still another example for others in the matter of restoring programs and homes for the homeless after the Oct. 1 earthquake.

When director Jill Halverson arrived at the center soon after the quake, she saw that the brick wall in the back of the building had buckled. Later she discovered that the wall had also separated from the roof of the one-story building that serves meals and provides help for as many as 40 women a day. City building inspectors condemned the building this week, but Halverson was already at work preparing to replace the fallen bricks with a safer, more efficient day center.

Last year, the center opened an apartment building that provides rooms for women with limited incomes and problems that have impaired their ability to work. That building stood sturdy during the quake and its aftershocks.

The center’s determination to rebuild offers a model for others to help the new homeless elsewhere in the city. So does Mayor Tom Bradley’s order, issued on Thursday, in an attempt to prevent opportunistic landlords from taking advantage of tenants who either live in damaged buildings or are sheltering relatives forced from their homes.

Living in Los Angeles is notoriously expensive. High rents--and some building demolitions in lieu of seismic-safety renovations--have already caused severe shortages of low-rent housing. If the earthquake carries one disguised blessing, it may be that the federal government and local authorities could now get together on providing financial aid to build housing for the people who have been displaced.

The day of the quake, Halverson was scheduled to receive the last bid on her plan that the city had approved for required seismic-safety work. Instead, she and the rest of the community that cares about the homeless are working to make some good come out of disaster. Many will need government help, and there should be no hesitation in giving it.