EL CAJON - City leaders in El Cajon are taking a look at ways to reduce the number of homeless people living in hotels.
The El Cajon City Council has created a subcommittee to look at options for how hotels will accept and use vouchers issues by the county and other agencies. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the city's planning commission is also looking into re-writing zoning rules which would ultimately change how and where hotels could operate.
This comes after the State Attorney General's office threatened to sue the city for publicly stating it would fine hotels for accepting too many vouchers, with the state calling the move housing discrimination. The city accused some hotels of operating as unpermitted homeless shelters and says police have been called to some locations over numerous issues.
Some 602 hotel rooms in the city are currently being used to house the homeless. Mayor Bill Wells says the city will not become a homeless dumping ground.