LOS ANGELES — The city and county of Los Angeles presented plans to relocate and shelter thousands of homeless people living in encampments and tents on the streets and near freeways under the threat of the coronavirus May 20.

In papers filed in Los Angeles federal court, officials promised over the next 10 months to find or create short- and/or long-term housing for more than 6,000 people, including those living under and adjacent to freeways, and those currently staying in recreation centers and motel and hotel rooms throughout the region.

In its nine-page proposal, the city and county prioritized two elements of the homeless population: those residing in the city’s COVID-19 emergency shelters — recreation centers and city-funded Project Roomkey rooms — and people who have taken shelter under freeway overpasses and underpasses, and near entrance and exit ramps.

Officials detailed three pilot projects, including the deployment of hygiene facilities near 16th Street and Maple Avenue near the Santa Monica (10) Freeway, where a group of people are living under a freeway; a modular housing, or pallet, program, providing shelter for up to 100 persons, expected to open within 10 weeks; and an safe parking program for recreational vehicles that allows safe 24-hour parking in a designated area exclusively for campers and is expected to open within four weeks, according to the document.

The ongoing operating and service commitments needed to sustain the interventions and keep people off the streets “come with a substantial cost,” one that must be shared between the city, the county, and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, according to the filing.

BlackFacts Details

Los Angeles begins clean up and rebuilding

Martin Luther King Jr. Facts

Lifestyle Facts

Women Facts

Literature Facts