Heavy El Niño Rains In LA Prompt Outreach, Concern For Homeless

NPR

Published January 7, 2016 at 9:12 AM PST

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A homeless encampment is left abandoned along the Arroyo Seco north of downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. Los Angeles authorities say police are patrolling riverbeds to compel homeless people to leave low-lying areas as a major storm gains strength and rain gets heavier. Steady and sometimes heavy rain in Southern California is shaking loose rocks and causing flooding on some roadways as an El Nino-powered storm moves through the region. (Christopher Weber/AP)

There is more rain in Los Angeles today – the third El Niño-driven storm there this week. In a city that’s known for its warm, dry weather, the persistent, heavy rain – and the cold – are causing a lot of concern for the homeless.

Here & Now’s Robin Young talks with Va Lecia Adams Kellum, executive director of St. Joseph Center, a homeless housing and services agency in Venice, California, about the dangers the rain is posing right now to people living on the streets, and the outreach her agency is doing to try to get people to come indoors.

Guest

Va Lecia Adams Kellum, executive director of St. Joseph Center, a homeless housing and services agency in Venice, California. She tweets @VaLeciaAdams.