As soon as the Los Angeles City Council proposed five new locations to build emergency homeless shelters, it received opposition from residents in some of those neighborhoods.
The Council now has 20 potential sites, including the most recent identified Wednesday: Wilmington, San Pedro, Beverly Grove, Park Mesa Heights and Watts, according to Curbed.
The city’s mounting homeless problem has led Mayor Eric Garcetti to pledge that L.A. will spend $20 million to build temporary housing in each council district, hoping to accommodate some of the city’s 23,000 people who are homeless, Curbed reported.
In Koreatown, the city had proposed building a shelter on a city-owned parking lot. Resident and business leaders along the busy stretch strongly opposed, leading Council President Herb Wesson — who also represents that area — to nix the idea and vow to bring senior housing to the site. Wesson, in late June, also proposed building the homeless shelter in a different part of Koreatown, on privately-owned lots. [Curbed] — Laurie L. Dove