Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell introduced a motion Tuesday that he said would complete the city’s formal review of a proposed temporary bridge housing facility in Hollywood.
O’Farrell said the site would be the second temporary housing facility built in the city as part of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “A Bridge Home” program, although several dozen sites have been formally proposed or are under consideration as part of a goal of opening up shelters in each of the 15 council districts.
The proposed facility in Hollywood would be open for up to three years and would temporarily house up to 70 people at a time, and provide them with numerous support services.
“We need more immediate solutions to get homeless individuals off the street and into a safe, clean environment,” O’Farrell said. “We are moving forward together, and my office has been meeting with stakeholders adjacent to this parking lot, located at 1533 Schrader Blvd. The response has been positive — and the community understands we need to act.”
The city is nearing completion of one temporary shelter near the El Pueblo historical monument as part of the effort to open temporary shelters in large tents, trailers or empty buildings to help control the massive growth of the city’s homeless population, which has spiked in recent years to more than 31,000.
The shelter program approved by the City Council this year freed up $20 million in budget funds for the 2017-18 fiscal year for temporary homeless shelters. There is also an additional $10 million in budget funds that could be used for shelters, and Garcetti said millions of dollars in state funding could also be used for the program.
“This crisis demands bold steps to get people off the streets and into housing as quickly as possible,” Garcetti said. “Councilmember O’Farrell’s leadership will deliver results for the men and women living on the streets of Hollywood today, who will soon be able to take their tents down and build themselves up. Our city will be safer, cleaner, and more just because of it.”
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority is recommending that the proposed Hollywood facility be operated by two service providers with experience in Hollywood: PATH and The Center at Blessed Sacrament.
“Establishing this type of facility and program in Hollywood is the right thing to do,” said Yolanda Brown, parish director at Blessed Sacrament. “We must continue to find ways to offer assistance and hope to those who want and deserve our help. This bridge housing facility will go a long way in those efforts.”
The motion will be heard in the Homelessness and Poverty Committee, and then by Budget and Finance Committee, prior to being considered by the full City Council. If approved, O’Farrell’s office said construction could begin as early as October and be completed in January.
Although many of the sites being considered for the program have not provoked any public resistance, a proposed site in Koreatown sparked numerous protests and demonstrations by a group of residents who say the site is too close to major businesses and schools. The City Council in June backed a plan to continue studying the possibility of the contested site on Vermont Avenue, but to also hold more community meetings on the topic and study an alternative site.