30 Trailers To Be Installed For The Homeless In South LA

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved the installation of 30 trailers in South L.A. to provide temporary housing for homeless families.

The trailers, which were proposed by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, will be funded by the executive order issued by California Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month which calls for $1.4 billion to go towards addressing the state's growing homeless crisis.

The trailers will be place on both public and privately-owned parking lots. It's unclear exactly where and when they will be installed and how many people they will each be able to house.

Along with this motion, the board also approved several others designed to tackle homelessness.

In a separate motion by Supervisor Hilda Solis, the board voted to bid on the about-to-be-closed St. Vincent Medical Center in downtown L.A. as a site for housing homeless individuals.

"This is an opportunity that's unique," said Solis, reminding her colleagues that the county tried to secure the property at Alvarado and Third streets in the Westlake district in March but were outbid.

The board also passed a motion coauthored by both Ridley-Thomas and Supervisor Janice Hahn for a Comprehensive Crisis Response Strategy to homelessness, with Hahn saying the problem demands a Marshall Plan-like solution.

"We have to treat the homeless crisis with the urgency that it demands," Hahn said. "I don't want to continue to rely on the same old policies and practices that are working too slowly."

This comes on the same day that L.A. County began its annual homeless count to determine how many people are living on the streets. In 2019, the number of homeless people in the county was just under 59,000, a 12 percent increase from the prior year.

Also Tuesday, the Fullerton City Council voted to approve a year-round homeless shelter.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)