Local News in Brief : City Wants Armories Opened to Homeless
The Los Angeles City Council has called on the county to open National Guard armories in Van Nuys and West Los Angeles to the homeless in foul weather.
The proposal is part of a program approved by the council for housing the homeless when the temperature is projected to dip below 40 degrees or below 50 degrees with at least a 50% probability of rain.
Gov. George Deukmejian last year ordered the National Guard to make available--at the request of counties--its 109 armories in California to the homeless in bad weather. The issue became controversial in Los Angeles after at least four street people died of hypothermia in January, 1987.
Bob Vilmur, the city’s coordinator for the homeless, said Tuesday that he envisions “no difficulty whatsoever” getting the county to agree to open the armory in Van Nuys. He is still talking with county officials about the West Los Angeles armory. Recreation centers will also be opened to the homeless “when we have a particularly severe or long storm,” he said.
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