Due to the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Central Los Angeles and surrounding areas have seen the implementation of limited "sanitation stations" which consist of hand washing stations stocked with soap, water, and paper towels for the homeless population there.  

Since their construction, some of the high use sanitation stations have not been maintained and re-stocked, leaving them useless or unsanitary.  

There are more than 27,000 people living in the street in the city of Los Angeles alone.  The homeless population is often neglected and denied access to resources we take for granted.  Public bathrooms are locked due to the COVID-19 shutdown, forcing further unsanitary conditions onto people who do not have any other means of personal hygiene besides the decreasing numbers of viable and stocked hand washing stations.

This petition aims to protect the vulnerable homeless population in LA County by expanding the scope, maintenance, and timeframe of the hand washing stations.  These stations should be continually restocked and sanitized past the lifting of the COVID-19 caused shutdown indefinitely, and developed throughout the county.

Personal hygiene is a fundamental right and should not be denied to anyone on the basis of economic status.  Added opportunities increasing the ability for personal hygiene may additionally allow jobless homeless individuals to apply for and maintain a job to facilitate their employment opportunities.   

In the face of a pandemic that is claiming hundreds of thousands of lives globally, we should think twice about limiting resources that are vital on a ground level in limiting the spread of diseases.