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Council Panel Seeks to Open Shelters to Homeless During Spraying

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A City Council committee Wednesday ordered two city agencies to offer shelter to the homeless on nights when aerial sprayings of malathion take place.

The homeless would be housed in the same shelters that the city opens during cold and wet nights, according to the plan approved by the Community Redevelopment and Housing Committee.

Under the plan, the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Community Development Agency would be instructed to open recreation centers and other facilities “immediately . . . in communities that are being sprayed,” said Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who proposed it.

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Buses would transport homeless people to shelters from specified pickup points.

Yaroslavsky said it would not be difficult for the city agencies to comply with the order, which still must get full council approval later this month.

“As bad as the spraying is, it’s not every night, seven nights a week, as cold weather can be during the winter,” Yaroslavsky said.

The committee’s decision was hailed by advocates for the homeless.

Toni Reinis, co-director of the California Homeless Coalition, said, “I appreciate that the city is willing to do it.”

Reinis had been working with other organizations that petitioned the city to open the shelters. Homeless people in spraying areas have complained of flu-like symptoms and other health problems, she said, and many have no means of showering after the sprayings.

“When malathion is sprayed over a neighborhood, people are advised to keep their pets inside,” Yaroslavsky said. “It is morally indefensible not to provide people the same protection we tell pet owners to give their pets.”

Last month the Legal Aid Society of Orange County lost a bid for a temporary restraining order to halt the spraying of malathion. The lawyers demanded that the state give 48-hour notice of spraying to all homeless people, provide shelter during the spraying, as well as medical care and laundry services to those sprayed.

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The Los Angeles committee also approved a proposal to develop a program to keep shelters open at night all winter next year.

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