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Should access to bathrooms be a basic human right?

For the homeless, it's an issue that is a little harder to figure out. That's why the city is talking about toilets at their council meeting tonight.

It's an issue facing every single human being, we're talking about going to the restroom.

For the homeless, it's an issue that is a little harder to figure out. That's why the city is talking about toilets at their council meeting tonight.

Right now, it's all about the library, where they have the added expense to clean up the problem.

"I have to put my waste into a bottle, so you can understand that," said Susan Delph. "And you have to dump the bottle out every day." Delph is homeless. She says coming up with somewhere to use the bathroom can get dicey.

Executive Director of the Sacramento Public Library Rivkah Sass says it's a problem that has unintended consequences.

"People have to relieve themselves somewhere," said Sass. "They will do that up against the building, in corners, in alleyways."

It's an issue that not only libraries have to face, but it's a citywide issue that officials at a lot of other public buildings have to deal with.

Sass says the library spends $50,000 dollars a year cleaning up the mess. But she says, it's the least they can do to give their patrons a clean place to "go" whether they rent, own or don't.

In the time that it took for us to wait to get to come to the bathroom together at least three people, who may have been homeless, used the libraries facilities. Sass says, "Oh yeah. Oh yeah, it's like that all day long."

"I don't have any problems here with any of that so they must be doing a good job. I don't see any of that," says Tom Peterson, a regular at the library. "I'm here every day."

But Karen Leland, the Library's Safety and Security Coordinator, says she's glad Tom and other patrons don't notice because they take their cleanup job seriously. Using the library's janitorial team or hiring outside resources.

"They'll come in and scoop out the feces and then they'll power wash the area with a solution that cleans the surface of the area."

Sass says, as far as she's concerned, a trip to the restroom should be a basic human right. "They're people too. They're still human beings."

Follow the story with Keristen Holmes on Facebook.

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