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Lengthy Seaside officers on Tuesday introduced that they had halted plans to arrange a short lived winter homeless shelter at a group gymnasium after complaints from neighbors.
These residing subsequent to the gymnasium, situated in Silverado Park, have insisted this isn’t a NIMBY problem. They are saying they don’t need to lose an vital group gathering spot in an space of the town the place leisure facilities are restricted.
Metropolis officers had proposed inserting 84 beds contained in the gymnasium beginning this month to accommodate folks residing on the streets throughout extraordinarily chilly and moist climate. A winter shelter at Group Hospital, which opened within the japanese a part of the town late final yr, has 81 beds, however they’re already taken, officers stated.
Residents who stay close to Silverado Park — at thirty second Road and Santa Fe Avenue — pushed again on the plan, saying it was unfair for the town to remove a leisure facility in an space with out a lot open house. Neighbors held a rally exterior the gymnasium earlier this month and as of Tuesday, greater than 1,100 folks had signed a Change.org petition asking for officers to rethink the shelter’s location.
Resident Anavelia Valencia questioned throughout a Metropolis Council assembly this month why the town couldn’t discover a vacant constructing for the shelter.
“Let me be clear, this problem has nothing to do with being in opposition to the homeless being housed,” Valencia stated. “It has all the things to do with taking already restricted assets away from a group that has already little to no assets.”
The variety of unsheltered people elevated dramatically in Lengthy Seaside in the course of the pandemic. The seventh-most-populated metropolis in California has 3,296 folks experiencing some degree of homelessness, a 62% improve in contrast with 2020, in keeping with a report printed final yr.
The nixing of the shelter location comes as Los Angeles is on monitor to expertise its longest chilly snap in almost 20 years. One other winter storm is anticipated to hit the area, bringing rain, icy temperatures and low-elevation snow this week.
Meteorologists count on Wednesday to be the eighth consecutive day that downtown L.A. hasn’t topped 60 levels. Temperatures have dipped even decrease — usually into the 40s — in a single day.
On Friday, an individual experiencing homelessness in Lengthy Seaside died due to publicity to the weather. “We should do extra to forestall extra of the identical in the course of the stormy weeks forward,” Mayor Rex Richardson and Metropolis Supervisor Tom Modica wrote in a letter to the group.
Richardson, who has stated tackling homelessness within the metropolis is a prime precedence, stated Tuesday he can be assembly with neighborhood leaders within the coming weeks as officers thought-about different potential shelter places. In an interview with The Instances, Richardson stated he was pleased with the work the town had carried out to handle homelessness, noting that Lengthy Seaside had “extra shelter capability proper now than we’ve ever had.”
“However we nonetheless have to do extra,” he stated. “And likewise deal with the long-term points like housing that’s reasonably priced for households and ensuring that we’ve everlasting supportive housing. We’ve got to maintain that long-term lens going as nicely.”
Within the meantime, the town has arrange 60 short-term beds for folks to remain in a single day on the Multi-Service Heart, which presents homeless help companies throughout excessive climate. However Richardson added that the placement wasn’t a long-term answer because the beds wanted to be cleared out for the middle’s daytime operations. Officers will proceed scouting for an additional short-term winter shelter, he stated.
“We nonetheless want extra capability to successfully meet this problem,” Richardson stated.
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