City Council Plan Would Use LA Convention Center, Future Olympics Site, As Temporary Homeless Shelter

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - The downtown Los Angeles Convention Center, which is slated to be an official Olympic venue when the city hosts the 2028 Summer Games, may be used as a temporary homeless shelter under a City Council plan.

Councilmen Curren Price, Kevin de Leon and Gilbert Cedillo introduced a motion Tuesday to assess if the coming months will bring more cold and stormy weather and, if so, how to shelter individuals inside.

When the COVID-19 crisis began in April, the city transformed part of the Convention Center into a temporary medical facility to handle a projected overflow of recovering COVID-19 patients from local hospitals.

With a 250-bed capacity and the ability to expand operations if necessary, council members said patients would receive care from medical professionals, as well as meals and wrap-around services to ensure they had a place to go prior to their release.

"Unhoused Angelenos are now facing the long winter months with virtually no access to a warm place to sleep at night,'' de Leon said. "Responding to this humanitarian crisis of biblical proportions requires us to be nimble and creative, doing everything in our power to move people off the street and indoors."

The Convention Center is set to host six sports during the 2028 Summer Olympics and will be a part of the Live Site Olympic Zone down Figueroa.

The motion instructs the various city factions to study the proposal and come up with recommendations within the next 30 days.