Council Orders Help for Justiceville Group in Locating Site for Shelter

After years of battling with homeless activist Ted Hayes, the Los Angeles City Council did an about-face Wednesday and ordered the Community Development Department to help Hayes’ Justiceville group find a downtown site on which to build its long-sought homeless shelter.

Councilman Robert Farrell said he decided Tuesday night to introduce the motion as he watched city security officers disband about 50 of Hayes’ followers who were once again camped on City Hall grounds.

Third Time

It was the third time in a month that Justiceville members had been driven out of the Civic Center area under threat of arrest. Although they were offered one-night housing vouchers as an inducement to leave Tuesday night, only 13 accepted the offer, while 37 refused, officials said.

In one of the more controversial of the recent sweeps, Los Angeles police on June 24 called in city street maintenance bulldozers and dump trucks to scoop up and haul away the belongings of many in the camp. Hayes and 40 others in that group later filed a claim for damages against the city.

Now the city is choosing to work with Hayes, 37, who has made a career out of organizing street people in the inner city during the past five years.

Hayes’ combative style has routinely brought him to the City Council and brought television cameras to Skid Row. City Hall security officers are routinely asked to quiet Hayes down or remove him from the public lectern.

The measure directs the city’s community development staff to “identify owners of private, vacant and unimproved property in the general Civic Center area” and then contact them “concerning their willingness to work with . . . Justiceville.”

The Justiceville concept is to have a shelter and service center that is constructed and operated by the homeless themselves. In its most grand form, Hayes envisions a giant geodesic dome to house the formerly homeless, who will operate fish farms and other high-tech agriculture.

Farrell said he wants homeless people to continue using existing services and shelters.

“But it’s clear that some other alternatives are needed. That is the feedback we are getting from the marketplace,” said Farrell, citing the fact that many homeless are turning down vouchers for free housing under existing city and county programs.

Farrell’s motion was amended by Councilwoman Ruth Galanter to make the same service available to other, similar organizations--although it was recognized that there are no other groups.

Councilman Nate Holden initially balked at the plan, repeating allegations he made recently that the homeless choose to be homeless. Holden has also contended that the homeless should accept city vouchers that allow them to spend the night in Skid Row hotels.

Motion Passed

But in the end the Council voted 8 to 2 to pass the motion, with members Gloria Molina and Ernani Bernardi dissenting. Five council members were absent.

The measure leaves to Justiceville the expense, coordination and administration of any possible shelter site.

Farrell, in an interview after the vote, said Hayes “has assured me that he has potential supporters who could be helpful. We’ll soon see.”

Community Development Department employees, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, were outraged by the City Council action.

“This just gives approval to a guy we’ve been trying to get rid of,” said one department employee who works on homeless projects. “Maybe they’re just doing this to placate Ted. Now they can just stall him for the rest of his life.”

Farrell said these feelings by the department are typical of a “kill the messenger” mind-set. “Ted just reminds them that . . . they are falling short” of their goals, he said.

Meanwhile, the Community Redevelopment Agency announced that it has reopened a single-room occupancy hotel on Skid Row. The 38-room Leo Hotel on San Julian Street is one of 11 Skid Row hotels being renovated and operated by SRO Housing Corp., a division of the CRA. The hotel will be an alcohol-free facility to house recovering alcoholics.