Berkeley May Spend $330K A Year On Lockers For Homeless People's Possessions
BERKELEY (KCBS) -- City leaders in Berkeley are considering spending $350,000 on program to provide lockers for homeless people to store their belongings.
The program is slated to be set up at the Veterans Building, offering secure, 64-gallon storage containers for their possessions.
Homeless people we spoke with were in favor of the proposal.
Captain Hariel, who spends a lot of time at Peace Wall Park, says he knows how to load and unload quickly, but to not have to carry everything in a grocery cart would be helpful.
"That would be the greatest help in the world," Hariel said.
The interim city manager noted a previous locker program had issues with drugs and vermin, but she is hopeful having two staff members at the bins will prevent those problems.
The program is expected to cost nearly $350,000 a year for staffing, which would allow access to bins from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Homeless man Gary Smith said he looked forward to the plan. "Because I get tired of trucking all this property around," Smith said.
The Berkeley City Council was expected to vote on the six-month pilot program later this month.
