The 2018 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count found more than 31,000 homeless people in the Los Angeles city limits alone, nearly 23,000 of whom were unsheltered.

A temporary housing structure currently under construction on Schrader Boulevard will serve about 70 homeless people as part of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s A Bridge Home program. Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, 13th District, selected the Hollywood site, and each council member is responsible for finding the site in their district. (photo courtesy of the 13th Council District office)

Los Angeles officials want to lower those numbers, and they’re putting money where their mouth is.

Measure H has set aside $355 million per year for services and programs for people in need, and Proposition HHH will provide $1.2 billion to build thousands of housing units to go along with those services, according to Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Some of those units are already under construction, like a new facility to provide transitional housing for 30 women at 1403 N. Gardner St., a former library in Councilman David Ryu’s 4th District.

Ryu said construction on the building is about 40 percent done and he hopes the building will be open by the end of summer to help one of the most at-risk populations of homeless people.

However, it will take time to build all of the units provided by Proposition HHH, so in the meantime, Garcetti wants to use his A Bridge Home program to build temporary housing on city-owned or city-leased property to serve nearby homeless populations.

The plan seeks to quickly provide shelters, some of which will be tent-like structures, that will stay in operation for three years.

The mayor’s office opened the first temporary shelter at El Pueblo de Los Angeles, downtown, and each City Council member is responsible for selecting a site for a shelter in their own districts.

Once each council member has opened their shelter, their district will be eligible to receive its share of $20 million in funding – about $1.3 million per district ­– and the city will devote more resources to removing encampments and cleaning streets in the district.

However, progress has come easier for some than others.

For Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, 13th District, the work on temporary housing has already begun.

At the site in his district, 1533 Schrader Blvd., construction is expected to be finished in the next few weeks, said Tony Arranaga, O’Farrell’s spokesman. The shelter is planned to open in early April and it will take in 70 people at a time, Arranaga added.

For others, the search for a site has been more difficult.

Councilman Paul Koretz, 5th District, said his first choice for a site was a closed school on Beverly Boulevard, but the site was bought by a developer before he could secure a lease for the city.

“That’s been our somewhat typical experience,” Koretz said.

However, the councilman has found a new site in the headquarters of Chabad West Coast in Westwood Village that should be able to house 50 to 100 people at a time, he said.

The religious group has several underused floors, Koretz said, and the bridge housing space will fit in nicely with the homeless outreach the Chabad already does.

Koretz said many members of the public have also been supportive of the plan.

“It’ll be like part of the Chabad family,” he said.

Koretz submitted the site to the City Council for approval, and the next step will be hiring a firm to analyze the building for any necessary changes to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other regulations.

Councilman David Ryu, 4th District, said he also has found a site that will work best for his district, but he similarly faced struggles with an earlier site.

Last summer, Ryu introduced a motion to study a Sherman Oaks property owned by the U.S. Army Reserve, said Mark Pampanin, Ryu’s spokesman, but despite letters from Ryu, Garcetti and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the city wasn’t granted permission to use the site.

Ryu has pivoted to a site at 3210 and 3248 Riverside Drive in Los Feliz, and he submitted a motion to the council Feb. 6 for approval. The council has not yet voted on the site, and Ryu said more investigation needs to be done to determine if the area is suitable for a temporary shelter.

“We’re going through all the city processes and community outreach to vet the site and make sure it’s possible and allowable to build there,” he said.

Ryu said he’s happy the city is coming together to fight homelessness.

“It’s being done everywhere in the city of L.A., and that’s the only way we’ll be able to tackle this problem,” he said.

Koretz said the temporary and permanent housing programs are a good start, but the city also needs to focus on the root causes.

“We have to look at what creates new homeless [individuals], otherwise this will be a perpetual treadmill we’ll be on,” he said.