At the onset of the pandemic, the City of Los Angeles distributed hundreds of handwashing stations and portable toilets to homeless encampments. Unhoused residents say the bathrooms have been helpful when they’re maintained.
However, according to city finance records obtained by L.A. TACO, funding for those hygiene stations is now running out, leaving tens of thousands of people living on the streets without a place to use the bathroom.
As of early April, the city has spent more than $1.3 million to keep dozens of hygiene stations on city sidewalks. A little less than $600,000 in approved funding remains for the program, according to the Department of General Services. And about half of the remaining funding will go towards paying past invoices.
The city spends an average of $100,000 each month to keep the units maintained and on city sidewalks. At that rate, funding for the program will likely run out early this summer unless more is approved.
The city first began rolling out hundreds of portable sinks and toilets to encampments in the spring of 2020, soon after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down service providers, libraries, and parks that unhoused people relied on for restroom access.