Ten white and blue trailers previously used by Camp Fire first responders filled a South Los Angeles parking lot early Friday morning, ready to temporarily house ten homeless families.
They’re the first wave of 30 state-owned trailers sent by Gov. Gavin Newsom to help with Los Angeles County’s growing homelessness crisis.
The fully-equipped travel trailers were sent to a parking lot at Broadway and 85th Street in the Florence neighborhood after L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas filed a motion requesting them last month.
“It says we can act quickly… it means 35 people, 10 families, will have a safe place, a clean place in order to live and breathe in dignity,” Ridley-Thomas told KTLA as he stood in front of the trailers Friday morning.
Inside the trailers, is a family dining table, a kitchen with a stove, microwave, fridge and oven. The trailer also includes a television, a bunk bed and another bigger bed, video showed.
The trailers are a temporary housing solution for the families.
“We will transition them to the next step on the journey, which is bridge housing and then permanent supportive housing,” Ridley-Thomas said. “They will not remain here. This is temporary but it is much needed for getting people off the streets.”
Tens of thousands of families were assessed for housing in the trailers after the governor signed an executive order to repurpose 100 trailers to provide shelter for homeless people.
The number of homeless people counted across L.A. County jumped to nearly 59,000 in 2019— a 12% increase between 2018 and 2019. About 36,300 of the county’s homeless were in Los Angeles alone, according to a report by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
More young people and families ended up on the streets during that period, according to the report.
Newsom’s executive order also called for a $750 million fund to build affordable housing, help pay rents, among other aid.
Though the trailers will only help a tiny fraction of the state’s homeless population, “for 10 families it could be life changing,” said Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum of St. Joseph Center, which helps with housing L.A.’s homeless.
Volunteers will be heading to the the parking lot in Florence Saturday to landscape and beautify the area ahead of the families’ arrival.
Another ten trailers are expected to arrive in South L.A. later this month.
“We hope this is a model to show this can happen when the resources come together, when the will is there, we can make a difference,” L.A. Councilman Curren Price Jr. said.
