FILE -- A homeless man who lives inside his car repairs a bicycle as his dog stands guard in Hollywood (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday approved a measure to allow homeless people to pay parking citations by performing community service rather than paying a fine.

Under the newly approved program, people who meet the federal definition of being homeless under Title 42 of the Public Health and Welfare Code can go into one of the city’s service provider agencies and apply to perform social services or community services instead of paying the citation fine.

The program will cover a maximum of 10 parking citations and up to a combined value of $1,500 per year.

The 10-0 vote authorizes the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to establish the pilot Community Assistance Parking Program. San Francisco and San Diego have similar programs, and the pilot may be based on those.

More than 3,900 people are estimated to be living in their cars in LA County, according to the 2016 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count.

LADOT does not currently have statistics on the number of parking citations that are issued to homeless individuals. But when the program is put in place, the agency says it will begin to gather data.

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