LOS ANGELES – There are many vacant buildings, including hospitals and malls, across Southern California. One Spectrum viewer asked the mayor what it would take to convert these buildings into housing for the homeless.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said these buildings would have to meet basic life-safety code and have running water. Although it is a great solution, the city needs to make sure these buildings provide more than just a building to sleep in.

“We don’t want to warehouse people in shelters so old buildings that have nothing like that in there doesn’t help get people out of homelessness and most folks won’t come off the street just to go into a space with a bunch of cots,” Garcetti said.

When it comes to reporting crime, one viewer wonders if rideshare drivers could be used as patrols to report incidents.

Garcetti encourages drivers to be safe and if there is something to report, to make sure the right agency is notified.

“But, absolutely we would love that and we actually encourage our own city employees to essentially do that,” Garcetti said.

City workers are already encouraged to report graffiti to the Department of Public Works or if a tree is down to let the Department of Recreation and Parks know.

“We do love that and there’s a real easy way to do that which is MyLA311. If you see something, you can take a picture of it and [let them] know,” Garcetti said.

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