By David de Sola
Senior Investigative Correspondent
The Southern California Inquisitor

Dozens of homeless people wander the streets of Skid Row, surviving however they can and occasionally seeking assistance and relief from one of the many shelters and missions in the area. Video: The Southern California Inquisitor
Los Angeles Police chief William Bratton discussed a criminal investigation into the practice of homeless dumping last October. A police surveillance team captured the attempted dumpings of five patients within a two-hour period. Photo: The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles County officials proposed a plan to create five regional homeless centers spread out across the county. The plan was part of an effort to curb homeless dumping and to disperse the burden of caring for the homeless outside of the Skid Row area in downtown Los Angeles.

The facilities, which are the central part of a $100 million plan by Los Angeles County to improve conditions on Skid Row, would serve as 24-hour dropoff spots where hospitals, police, and others can take people who are in need of housing.

The focus of the media's coverage and the Los Angeles City Attorney's investigation into the practice of homeless dumping has been focused on hospitals, but the Los Angeles Police Department has accused nearly a dozen suburban police agencies of dumping homeless people on Skid Row. Jail officials have also been accused to engaging in the practice as well.

The construction of the centers also raises questions about finding locations that are willing or able to accept an influx of homeless people and all of the social, criminal, economic, and political issues that come with it.

Showdown in Venice could hint at standoff over where to build new centers
Residents in the areas where the centers will be built are expected to voice opposition to their construction, particularly if they live in a residential area.

A proposal to relocate a homeless access center affiliated with St. Joseph Center, a nonprofit provider of homeless services, to a thrift-shop site in Venice generated strong opposition from local residents. They formed Venice SONIC [Save Our Neighborhood's Integrity Committee] and hired an attorney to address the issue with city officials

"We know we're going to be tarred and feathered as NIMBY [Not In My Backyard] and anti-homeless," Chris Williams of the Penmar Neighborhood Association told the Los Angeles Times. "But that's just not true. The problem with this particular program...is that it enables the service-averse and criminal homeless to stay in their dysfunctional lifestyle, and that's not safe for our community and our seniors and our children."

The reaction from Venice residents is echoed in other parts of Los Angeles County which might receive an influx of part of the county's estimated homeless population of 88,000, which is considered the largest in the country.

"It isn't going to go down well if this city was chosen for one of these centers, and I suspect ti will be much the same in other cities," Burbank mayor Jef Vander Borght told the Los Angeles Times. "We wouldn't want to house the county homeless population. We probably represent a hundredth of that population, not a fifth."