L.A. County officials announce efforts to improve sanitation and create conditions for homeless people



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The trash is next to a wall painting that reads

Trash sits next to a mural featuring "Skid Row City Limit" at the annual homeless count in Los Angeles on January 26, 2018.
(Credit: MARK RALSTON / AFP / Getty Images)

Los Angeles County Public Health officials announced Wednesday their ongoing efforts to improve the sanitation and living conditions of homeless people.

Data released last week showed that the number of homeless people in Los Angeles County had increased by 12%, with the majority of them residing in the city of Los Angeles.

The public health agency announcement comes shortly after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti wrote a letter to Angelenos to defend the city's action against homelessness.

Dozens of businesses near Skid Row in Los Angeles have recently been put on notice for breaking storage and waste rules, and county health inspectors are expected to return to the 85 companies to ensure they are safe. that they comply with the regulations.

The agency provides coordination with the city of Los Angeles and companies that fail to repair the violations "may be subject to legal prosecution, including fines," officials said in a press release released Wednesday.

The inspectors examined 62 city blocks at Skid Row and noted where garbage dumps were overflowing, garbage littered in the aisles and visible rodents.

Information will be shared with city officials to address corporate dumping violations and to implement a rodent control plan.

Inspectors should continue to respond to complaints from homeless settlements and expand surveillance of known settlements in Los Angeles County, officials said.

The agency also stressed their ongoing efforts to address and mitigate the health and safety problems of homeless people, resulting from the lack of adequate facilities for personal hygiene and sanitation.

"The 2017 hepatitis A epidemic and the countywide increase in the number of cases of typhus transmitted by fleas in recent years highlight the need for" a ". a collective action to fight sanitation problems, rodent and wild animal infestations and illegal dumping of rubbish, "the statement said.

Officials in Los Angeles will also work with other cities to address similar concerns related to homelessness.

The public health agency reminds companies that they are responsible for maintaining sanitation around them and that they must eliminate all garbage.

Officials also shared guidelines for cities with homeless camps.

These include the establishment of public sanitation systems as well as the establishment and maintenance of human waste cleaning.

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