Los Angeles to use trailers on city-owned properties to house homeless

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Every night, 4,000 to 5,000 people sleep on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, according to city officials.

To get temporary shelter for some of them, five trailers would be placed on a lot at Arcadia and Alameda streets.

"This is crisis housing," said Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar. "We hope that individuals go there no more than six months, get services we can get food then we placed in bridge housing and from there to permanent housing."

Huizar presented the motion Tuesday to the city council. He said the first year, the program would cost a little more than $2 million. After that, running the shelter would cost $1.2 million, and would serve about 60-70 people every six months.

There is already one trailer set up in downtown Los Angeles.

The mayor's office issued a statement saying, "With its intensive case management services -- ranging from mental health to drug and alcohol treatment -- it is specifically structured around helping homeless Angelenos stabilize and move into permanent homes quickly as possible."

"We can't continue to make downtown and Skid Row the place where people come and get dumped," said Huizar.

That's why Huizar says the plan is to install shelters like these citywide, but he knows there will be resistance.

"It's been shown that individuals who get services in neighborhoods that they are familiar with, it's easier for them to get back on their feet," said Huizar. "They have a support network there, so we hope that other parts of the city will eventually accept some of these types of crisis housing."