EDITORIAL HELP FOR THE HOMELESS.

THE shame of greater Los Angeles is the region's burgeoning homeless population. But at last, some local leaders are paying attention.

In Camarillo, a $1.5 million renovation of a former hospital ward should be complete by the end of the year, at which point it will be able to accommodate as many as 85 or 90 homeless people. And Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has proposed plans for a downtown public safety center that would house up to 200 more.

Little, however, has been done at the L.A. City Hall level, where, despite billions of dollars in investment in downtown, homeless men, women and children still populate the area, living in boxes on the street.

Maybe that's because the homeless have no lobbies, PACs or consultants. The downtown power structure forgets them and discards them all too easily.