Homelessness is rapidly increasing across Los Angeles, so much so, that the homeless population grew 20% last year. The city is working tirelessly to find new, innovatives solutions to solve the issue, now downtown LA residents will have a chance to give back, by simply feeding meters with spare change.
Six meters will be placed throughout the downtown area, where all change collected will go to Skid Row’s C3 Program, that helps homeless people find housing. In addition to the cash collected, each meter accepts $3,500 sponsorships.
City Councilmember Jose Huizar and LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis have both sponsored a meter in Grand Park, while four other meters are sponsored by local businesses.
Similar programs have been rolled out in Pasadena and Palm Beach, Florida, where meters are brightly colored so they’re not mistaken for actual parking meters, and accept both credit card and change for donations.
For more on this, head over to Curbed Los Angeles.