Local News in Brief : Some Homeless Helped as Temperatures Drop

As temperatures dropped near freezing Sunday, city officials distributed hotel vouchers and moved cots into a recreation center to shelter homeless people in the San Fernando Valley. Vouchers were distributed at dinner in the Van Nuys Salvation Army center, said Robert Mortimer, of the Los Angeles Community Development Department. He said the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center in the 11000 block of Foothill Boulevard was opened and outfitted with 100 cots and blankets.

Mortimer said the recreation center would be available when other shelters in the Valley were filled and when the hotel vouchers were distributed. About 60 vouchers are available.

“We hope everybody has something better than this,” Mortimer said of the Lake View Terrace center. “This is sort of the last resort. But we are open because we want everybody to have a warm place to sleep.”

Mortimer said the police department was alerted to the opening of the recreation center and told to take homeless people there. Two city vans were being used to tak people to the center and three hotels.

“For the most part, we are going to be relying on the LAPD to find people who are unprotected and needing shelter,” he said.

Officials said the voucher system and use of the recreation center will continue if the weather remains brisk. The city institutes the shelter procedures when temperatures drop to 40 degrees, Mortimer said.