Council OKs Plan for Homeless Center

At the urging of the mayor’s office, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved in concept a plan to build a Downtown drop-in center for the homeless where transients could take showers, get job training or rest.

The council voted 13 to 0 to move forward with the $4-million center as part of a city and county effort--funded by a $20-million federal grant--to reduce homelessness in Los Angeles.

“To succinctly put it, the city of Los Angeles wants to give people a ladder to climb out of the situation of homelessness,” said Councilman Mike Hernandez.

But advocates for the homeless said they will continue their fight to ensure that the center does not become an “internment camp.”

“The battle has begun,” said Mike Neely, director of the Homeless Outreach Program.

“By its very design, the plan seeks to hide the homeless, not to house them,” said Alice Callaghan, director of Las Familias del Pueblo, a Skid Row service center. “They want to make Downtown a pretty place for uptowners by ridding the sidewalks of the panhandlers and the homeless. . . . It is worrisome.”

Under the mayor’s plan, the city would purchase a vacant lot in a secluded industrial zone east of Downtown. About 80% of the area would be transformed into a landscaped, fenced lot where homeless people could rest.

The plan also calls for building a 50-bed shelter, showers, restrooms and lockers, along with a service center providing drug and job counseling. A van, staffed by social workers, will shuttle homeless people to the center.

The facility was originally touted as a place where transients who refused to go to conventional shelters could sleep. However, in the wake of criticism from advocates for the homeless, the mayor’s office has sought to portray the drop-in facility as a service center and a place for brief rest stops.

“There was a concern from certain homeless providers that regardless of what the initiative said, the drop-in center would become an urban campground,” said Deputy Mayor Rae Franklin James. “Let us reiterate: The drop-in center would not be an encampment site for individuals to live nor would anyone be forced to go there.”

Within the next 45 days, city officials say, they will hold six public hearings before returning to the council for final approval on the specifics of the plan. The Board of Supervisors must also sign off on the drop-in center before it can be built.

City Council members said they hope the facility will provide crucial services to a population that has been difficult to reach.

“It is a first step out of homelessness,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas.

The program will be funded with $20 million in U.S. housing and urban development funds, as approved by Congress in August to combat homelessness. The council members said they want at least to approve the mayor’s plan in concept for fear the city might lose the federal funds if it does not proceed.

“We have plenty of time to debate on the fine points on how the money will be used and where it is used,” said Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg. “I think we should sign on and get it moving.”