Homeless and Problem Property Report March 2016

8/18/2019 Homeless and Problem Property Report March 2016

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Vol 4 March 2016 No. 3

Continued on p. 3

Opposition Mounts over City Seizure of Tiny

Homes for the Homeless

Continued on p. 2

Special Report:

America’s Tiny

House Villages

for the Homeless

See page 4

Seizure by city workers of three Tiny

Houses from homeless people February

12 has led to an outpouring of protest,

ranging from the prestigious Los Angeles

Times to a demonstration at City Hall and

a lawsuit led in the federal U.S. District

Court, as well as widespread support for

the Tiny House eorts by a wide range of

homeless activists and their supporters.

There can be little question that if you

are living under a tarp that one of these

6X10 foot wooden shed-type structures,

with a lock on the door and solar panel

for electricity, is a huge improvement. To

date, 37 of them have been built, at a cost

in materials of $1200 each, by Elvis Sum-

mers. He has raised more than $100,000

for the project from a GoFundMe appeal,

and has distributed them over a wide area,from Van Nuys to Compton and Inglewood.

The city government has insisted that

the little houses are not needed because

it plans to construct housing for all of the

homeless in the county. Those plans, how-

ever, lie in a vague future at least ten years

away and to even get on the drawing board

are dependent on passing multiple ballot

measures that require a two-thirds majority

and may not even be scheduled for a vote

before the spring of 2017. That does noth-

ing for someone living on the streets now.

Ocials also point to the 500 home-

less that they have housed over the last 18

months, which leaves 30,500 of the county’s

homeless living on the streets. Another oer

is the shelter system. While there are some

openings, these are short-term, putting

those who accept them back on the streets.

They are reportedly bug-infested barracks

where theft and violence are prevalent and

accommodations consist of a cot in a giant

room lled with them. Many require that the

resident leave during the day, there is zero

privacy, all possessions to be safe need to

be kept on one’s person at all times. Many

demand cold turkey break from alcohol

or drugs, and require participation in reli-

gious indoctrination. In addition to thesedisincentives some homeless people have

dogs, which are not allowed in the shelters.

What Happened to the People

Whose Little Houses were

Taken Away

The lawsuit claims that people’s health

was endangered by expelling them from the

little houses. Some were also arrested on

charges of having stolen shopping carts. Carl

Mitchell, 62, has severe diabetes with open

wounds in his legs. He lost his little house,was arrested, and put back on the streets at

night when it was 40 degrees, without his

medication. Judy Coleman, one of the liti-

gants in the lawsuit, also had her little house

taken and was arrested for having a stolen

shopping cart. She was released February

14 without her diabetic medication and

ended up in the hospital with pneumonia.

Illegal car sales on Normandie Avenue

north of Washington Blvd. before City

Council approved ban in 2013. New

ban will cover Normandie from the

10 Freeway to Martin Luther King Jr

.Blvd.

City Council Bans Car

Sales on NormandieAvenue

For years this report and its prede-

cessor, published by the Empowerment

Congress North neighborhood council

have called attention to illegal car sales

on Normandie Avenue south of the 10

Freeway. Happily, the City Council on

February 26 voted to approve a proposa

from the council’s Transportation Com

mittee to ban all parking of cars with For

Sale signs on Normandie between the 10

Freeway and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

The motion was approved unanimously

and referred to the City Attorney to draf

an amendment to LAMC Section 87.55

That ordinance will go to the Council for

a vote before the ban comes into force

Typically there are 10 or more

cars with For Sale signs clustered to


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Homeless and Problem Property Report

Distributed monthly by email by the Southwest LAPD Community Police Advisory Board (CPAB).

Community-Police Advisory Boards were created by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1993 to give community mem-

bers a vehicle to provide advice to and raise issues about crime and police-community relations with their local police stations.

Each of the 21 community police stations has its own CPAB chapter. Southwest CPAB is affiliated to

the Southwest Community Police Station, 1546 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90062.

Our aim is to identify homeless and problem property locations within Southwest LAPD’s area, roughly from

the 10 Freeway on the north to Vernon on the south, and from the Harbor Freeway on the east to La Cienega. Welog homeless camps, and locations such as blocked alleys, illegal businesses, and open junk storage. We accept

requests from residents to look into such problems. If there appears to be a denite violation we photograph it and

report it to the appropriate agency: Homeless outreach teams, Building and Safety, Housing, LAPD, Street Ser -

vices, etc. Determination of the validity of this judgment is always made by the professional stas of these city

agencies. We seek help for the homeless from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and other organiza-

tions. If you want to receive these emails (or if you want to unsubscribe) drop us an email at the address below.

Homeless and Problem Property Committee chair: Leslie Evans

[email protected] 323-574-5586 www.southwestcpab.org

Southwest CPAB meets on the rst Monday of each month, usually at 6:30 pm. Our meetings are open to the public and you are welcome to attend. The location changes, so drop us an email to get an announcement. Our next

meeting date and place are also listed on our website, www.southwestcpab.org.

Southwest CPAB is a member of the South Los Angeles Homeless Coalition. This covers the Los Angeles Home-

less Services Authority’s Service Planning Area 6 (SPA6), which runs roughly from the 10 Freeway to Compton and

Paramount, and from Baldwin Village to the borders of Huntington Park, Vernon, and South Gate. The SPA6 Home -

less Coalition is hosted by the Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System at 5715 S. Broadway.

Contents

Current problem locations: p. 8-9

Homeless locations/issues:

p. 10-20

Car Sales Banned on Normandie Avenue

continued from p. 1

Closed Cases?

We usually use this page for

a list of closed cases: homeless

camps that have disappeared or

problem properties that have been

fixed. In March no existing loca-

tions changed, but we do have 7

new homeless locations to report..

gether on Normandie , main ly be-

tween Jefferson Blvd. and 37th Place.

City code distinguishes between a

person selling their own car on the street

and someone making their living this way.

LAMC SEC. 80.73.1(a) says “No person

who deals in or whose business involves the

sale, rental, leasing, repair, repossession or

transportation of new or used vehicles shall

park or leave standing on any one or more

streets or alleys during the conduct of such

business any vehicle held for sale, trade,

rental, leasing, repair, repossession, ship-

ment, transportation or other disposition.”

Dealers get around this by buy-

ing throwaway cell phones to have

different phone numbers on each car.

The main stretch for illegal car sales on

Normandie used to be between the 10 Free-

way and Adams Blvd. Then-CD1 City Coun-

cilmember Ed Reyes got the city to install

1-hour parking signs. The illegal business

then moved north to Normandie between

Washington Blvd. and the 10 Freeway, out o

our district. In 2011 the City Council passed

LAMC 87.55. This is an absolute prohibi

tion of parking vehicles with For Sale signs

- rst violation: $100, second violation

$250, third and subsequent violation: $500

To not violate the First Amendment, how

ever, this law can only be applied on a smal

number of specic streets designated by the

City Council. Neighbors near Normandie

and Washington Blvd. circulated petitions to

have 87.55 applied to Normandie between

15th Street and the 10 Freeway. This was

approved by the City Council in October

2013 and signs were put up to warn o

violators. The underground car dealers then

moved their business to Normandie south of

Jeerson. The new amendment to 87.55 wil

put an end to this illegal nuisance business.


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Debate over Tiny Houses for the Homeless

Continued from p. 1

The LA Times ran a March 10 editorial

headed, “If the homeless can’t have their tiny

houses, what can they have?” The editors

declared of the city’s plans that they “will

cost hundreds of millions of dollars andyears of study and review to implement. . .

And while tiny housing dotting a sidewalk

might not have been the safest alternative,

nor a real substitute for permanent housing,

they, at least, oered an interim solution.

And interim solutions are crucial. It’s not

enough to decry the existence of people

living on streets and in parks throughout

the area and crammed like war refugees on

the sidewalks of Skid Row while the city

and county work on their long-term plans.”

They added: “Instead of simply saying ‘no’

to tiny houses, the city should take a goodlook at where and how they might work.”

“A tiny roof over one’s head

is better than none.”

Along these lines the newspaper ran a

March 20 Op-Ed under the title “A tiny roof

over one’s head is better than none.” There,

architecture critic Mimi Zeiger writes, “in

the face of an unabating housing crisis,

tiny houses could be part of a system that

supports rather than criminalizes those who

fall in homelessness.” She points to tiny

house villages for the homeless that have

operated well in other cities for years. She

mentions Dignity Village in Portland and

Square One Village in Eugene, Oregon.

There are nine more in other cities and

still more on the drawing board. These

villages are mostly set up on public land

and provided with public toilets and show-ers. They typically cost $2,500 each. And

they get the little houses o the sidewalks.

“What the village lacks in plumbing,” Zeiger

writes, “it makes up in safety and human

ity – values currently missing from L.A.’s

crackdown on those living on the street.”

She reminds us that Los Angeles once

had such a tiny town for the homeless

Dome Village, led by Ted Hayes. This little

community of tiny geodesic dome huts wasfounded in 1993 and ran well until it closed

in 2006 when land rents became too high

As for where to get the $1.85 billion

to pay for ten years of construction of tiny

apartments for the homeless, one thought is

to take it from MTA planned transit expan

sion. The MTA is asking for $120 billion, 65

times more than the supposedly unreachable

budget to tackle homeless housing. The

huge appropriation is to cover new rail and

subway lines and some additions to bus and

bike lanes. The $120 billion dwarfs the $15

billion already spent, while the March 20American Interest points out that there are

10% fewer boardings on the Los Angeles

MTA system than in 2006, “and that the

decline was accelerating.” Los Angeles is

too large and spread out to ever get most o

its people to ride mass transit, unlike older

compact cities like New York and Chicago

So maybe the MTA project should be scaled

back a little - one or two 64ths? – to help

solve a genuine humanitarian crisis. - LE

One of Elvis Summers’ Tiny Houses. 42nd Street bridge over the Harbor

Freeway. This is one of the three houses that were conscated by city workers.

Elvis Summers on right.


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Special Report:

America’s Tiny House Villages for the Homeless

The debate in Los Angeles city government over whatto do with the tiny houses for the homeless, being builtand distributed by Elvis Summers, needs to include awareness

of the nationwide experiments taking place in cities across the

country in establishing small villages of these kind of struc-

tures as one additional tool in reducing homelessness. They are

a transitional step between the streets and permanent housing,

while permanent housing for all of the homeless remains a

distant dream. This is the obvious alternative to the positions

currently dominating the debate: either to leave the little hous-

es on the streets or to destroy them and expel their residents.

No one imagines that there will be enough of these kind

of shelters to end homelessness or that they would be ideal

if there were. But as it sinks in that providing real homes

for such multitudes is at best relegated to the far future, city

councils and even the federal government are beginning to

see the tiny house movement, adapted to the homeless, as

contributing to getting people o the street and restoring their

dignity by providing a dry, secure, stable place to live, and

privacy that is impossible sleeping under a tarp in an alley.

The typical pattern for these settlements is to find a

piece of land, preferably an acre or two. Some cities have

used existing prefab wooden sheds, commonly 8 X 10.

To work best, the place needs a central building with run-ning water and electricity, for toilets, showers, and com-

munal cooking. Building codes for housing are often

sidestepped by classifying the villages as campgrounds or

putting the houses on wheels and rating them as trailers.

At least 11 cities have such tiny house villages already

in operation or under construction. The Christian Science

Monitor reports: “More cities are turning to tiny homes

as part of an innovative solution to curb homelessness.

The latest city to join the tiny house movement is Se-

attle, which is preparing to open its rst tiny house vil -

lage, a collection of 14 petite homes built on a plot of land

owned by a local Lutheran church.” (January 21, 2016)

The article quotes Lee Jones, a spokesperson for the

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as

saying “It’s certainly something that we would encour -

age other communities to take a look at when it comes to

creating solutions for housing the chronically homeless.”

Dome Village (Los Angeles, 1993-2006)

847 Golden Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles. Founded by

homeless activist Ted Hayes on rented land, the complex hosted

20 geodesic domes and housed 34 people, some of them couples

Eight of the domes were for kitchens, bathrooms, laundries, and

computers. The other twelve provided shelter for single individu

als or families. The berglass domes cost $10,000 each. They were

easy to repair and maintain, made of polyester berglass. Funding

for the village was provided by the Atlantic Richeld (ARCO) oil

company. This was probably the oldest and most successful of the

Tiny House homeless villages, right here in our own city. It lasted 13years and was ended only when the landlord raised the rent too high

Dignity Village (Portland, Oregon)

NE 33rd and Sunderland, Portland, OR 97211. Founded in 2004

This began in 2000 as a tent city. Rather than disperse it, in 2001

the city found an alternate location near the airport and ocially


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recognized the place under the State of Oregon code denition

of a campground. It now houses 60 homeless people, some in

home-built wooden mini houses and others in tents. The property

includes showers, sanitary facilities, private and communal food and

ower gardens, and communal cooking and refrigeration facilities.

Dignity Village is incorporated in Oregon as a 501(c)(3) member -

ship-based non-prot organization. Its rules require: No violence to-

ward yourself or others. No illegal substances or alcohol or parapher -

nalia on the premises or within a one-block radius. No stealing. No dis-

ruptive behavior. All members are required to contribute to the upkeep.

Opportunity Village (Square One

Villages) (Eugene, Oregon)

111 N. Gareld St., Eugene, OR 97402. Opened in August 2013 as

a “transitional micro-housing” pilot project. It has about 30 individu-

als and couples. It is overseen by the nonprot Square One Villages.

It includes toilet and laundry facilities and a communal kitchen. The

houses are 60 to 80 square feet. Initial cost for the whole place was

$98,000 plus donated labor. Operating costs are around $1,800/month.

The one-year pilot project has since been renewed for a

two-year extension by an 8-0 City Council vote. It has 5 basic

rules: No violence. No theft. No alcohol or illegal drugs on-

site. No persistent, disruptive behavior. And everyone must

contribute to the operation and maintenance of the village.

Quixote Village (Olympia, Washington)

3350 Mottman Rd SW, Olympia, WA 98512. Like Dignity Vil-

lage in Portland, Quixote Village began as a tent camp. After six

years it moved at the end of 2013 to its current location of 2.17

acres, where there are 30 tiny houses (144 square feet) for 30 home

less adults. There is a community building which has bathrooms

showers, a kitchen and dining room. There is a vegetable garden

It is a self-governing community overseen by the Panza non

prot. There are two full-time sta, a program manager for opera

tions and a case manager who helps residents get social services

Second Wind Cottages (Neweld,

New York)

1435 Elmira Rd, Neweld, NY 14867. Neweld is a short drive

from Ithaca. The cottages are on the property of an auto mechanic

and devout Christian named Carmen Guidi. There are six cottages

at a cost of $12,000 to $15,000 each. Guidi raised $150,000 and

got volunteers to build the cottages to provide housing for homeless

men from a nearby tent camp. Guidi plans to build 12 more cottages

then found a second village for women. The cottages, untypically

for such camps, have running water, electricity, and a stove. Svante

Myrick, the mayor of Ithaca, is reported quoted as saying, “If we can

take the model and replicate what we can—that is, small stand-alone

shelters, instead of mass sheltering where it’s hard to keep folks safe

and in some cases it’s hard to keep them sober, giving them unitswhere they can actually have a space of their own, that’s warm and

secure—I think that’s a model that certainly can be replicated.”

Occupy Madison Village (Madison,

Wisconsin)

304 N. Third St, Madison, Wisconsin 53704. The smallest of the

tiny house communities, it contains only three little houses and a


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former gas station that now serves as bathroom, kitchen, oce, and

a woodworking shop. The houses, built by volunteers, are 98 square

feet and have electric heat. Residents must do 32 hours of work in or -

der to move in. They then must work 10-hours per week till they have

500 hours total. Once residents have “paid-o” their homes they must

still contribute 10-hours per week to the maintenance of the village.

Village of Hope (Fresno, CA)

412 F Street, Fresno, CA 93706. Established in 2004 by the

Poverello House nonprot. It claims it can provide 124 beds per

night in volunteer-built 8-by-10-foot wooden sheds. There are

two cots per shed. They do not have electricity or running water.

The sheds have solar powered lights. The village uses porta-

potties. This place is run more like a traditional shelter but with

semiprivate sleeping quarters. Residents are required to leave

the sheds at 8:00 am and not return until 5:00 or 6:00 pm. No

alcohol or drugs are permitted. Residents are allowed to have

pets, but the housing is considered temporary, not long-term.

River Haven (Ventura, California)

Harbor Boulevard near Olivas Park Drive, Ventura, CA. Es-

tablished in 2009. River Haven has 19 modular U Domes that can

house 25 people. It is funded and operated by the Turning Point

Foundation and is part of Ventura County’s 10-year plan to end

homelessness. River Haven is an outgrowth of a previous tent

community that had existed since 2004. U Domes are sold by the

World Shelters company. The U Dome 200 has a diameter of 16

feet and interior of 200 square feet. They sell for $2,495 each.

The U Dome 120 has a diameter of 120 feet at a lower price

Residents are allowed to stay for two years, during which they

must obtain a source of income and look for permanent housing

The use of drugs and alcohol within 100 yards of the camp is

prohibited. The managing foundation provides case management

Community First Village (Austin, Texas)

9301 Hog Eye Road, Austin, TX 78724. A 27-acre project

built in 2014 by the Mobile Loaves and Fishes outreach ministry

It houses, long-term, more than 200 homeless persons. It consists

of 125 units which are a mix of tiny houses (144 to 180 sq feet)and 12 X 12 canvas-sided cottages. The houses rent for $210 a

month, the canvas cottages for $180. Both have electricity. There

are also lots for 100 RVs and 12 sites to pitch teepees. There are

outdoor kitchens and communal shower, bathroom, and laundry

facilities. The village includes a community garden, bee hive

and a large chicken coop. The property includes a machine and

woodworking shop. There is on-site medical and hospice care

Tiny house village (Seattle,

Washington)

2116 East Union Street, Seattle, Washington, 98122. Opened

in January 2016. It contains 14 tiny houses. They are 8 X 12

feet and insulated. It was created by the Low Income Housing

Institute in coordination with the city of Seattle and the Nick-

elsville homeless camp. The move was prompted by the death

of 45 homeless people in Seattle streets in 2015. The mayor

declared a state of emergency on homelessness in November

2015. Several other homeless camps and parking lots for the

homeless have been ocially approved by the city government


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The little houses have electricity and oil heat. Bathrooms with ush

toilets and showers with hot and cold water are in a central building.

Each house can sleep up to a family of three, so the village can house

42 people at maximum. Drugs and alcohol are prohibited but the resi-

dents will run the community. Residents must pay a $90 per month

utility fee. Case management will be provided. Each house costs

about $2,200 to build – paid for by donations and built by volunteers.

Residents are allowed to stay until they nd permanent housing.

Innity Village (Nashville, Tennesee)

146 Green Street, Nashville, Tennessee 37210 (the Green

Street Church of Christ). Opened in August 2015. So far, there are

6 tiny houses, each 5-by-12 and 60 square feet. This is a project

of Pastor Je Obafemi Carr, who built the houses with the help of

11 volunteers. He has thus far raised $67,000 with a GoFundMe

appeal. The little houses are on wheels, have no bathroom or

kitchen, but do have electricity, to power a mini fridge and air

conditioning. They contain a pull-down bed. Pastor Carr plansto build 19 more. The houses cost about $7,000 each. Residents

use bathrooms in the church, and shower outside with a hose.

Santa Rosa, California

In December the Sonoma County, California, Board of Super visors allocated $75,000 to explore locations to begin a two-year

pilot project by constructing 8 to 12 tiny houses for the home

less. If successful they said they were considering expanding the

project to between 40 and 70 such houses and possibly opening

additional tiny house villages. They began a review of six poten

tial sites in Santa Rosa, the county’s largest city. In its January

3, 2016, issue the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported that the

county Board of Supervisors had settled on a 10,000-square-foo

lot at Paulin Drive and Fiscal Drive, northwest of the intersection

of Mendocino Avenue and Chanate Road. The newspaper wrote

“Supervisor Shirlee Zane, who is spearheading the project, argued

that the shelters can help boost the local housing stock faster than

other aordable housing developments and provide much-neededunits for homeless people in a time of crisis. ‘We have a dire supply

and-demand problem,’ Zane said. ‘Rents are going up ... threatening

not only homeless people who want to get into housing, but people

who are just one paycheck away from becoming homeless.’” Sonoma

has over 3,000 homeless, with 2,000 of them sleeping outside.

While the Sonoma County, Callifornia, Board of Supervisors

is debating where to set up their two-year trial homeless

tiny house village, county capital Santa Rosa has converted

the Palms Inn motel into single-room occupany apartments

for the homeless, veterans, and the elderly


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This small house has for some years

collected junk, derelict motorcycles, and

inoperable vehicles around it. In 2009 Build-

ing and Safety had the owner remove several

inoperable vehicles. We led a complaint to

Building and Safety, July 13, 2015, for stor -

age of boxes of liquid on the porch and onthe north side of the house. From recent pho-

2509 S Raymond Ave, LA 90007

Current Problem Locations

2921 S La Salle

Avenue, LA 90018

This abandoned house has been on our

reports since January 2010, when we led

a Building and Safety complaint. It has

been vacant and a local nuisance far longe

than that. The owner, Doris Crader, moved

to Salinas, California, in 1975. She died in

2009 without a will, leaving the house on La

Salle Avenue ownerless. It has accumulated

trash and transients ever since. In February

2015 we succeeded in getting Building

and Safety to clean the yard and place a

tos we can now see that they are 35 pound

containers of canola oil for commercial deep

fryers. It was assigned to Inspector Antonio

Monsisvais (323) 789-2786 (since trans-

ferred to the Electrical Section). It remained

listed as Under Investigation as of March

26, 2016. Inspector Monsisvais cited the

property for “Excessive or overgrown veg-

etation on the premises” and “Open storage

within the required yards.” The order had

a required compliance date of 9/19/2015

We are afraid that since there is no current

inspector assigned to the case that it will, as

many other such cases, go on being listed as

"under investigation" for years to come.


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Long Vacant Burger Stand at 4319 S Hoover Street, LA 90037

This 720-square-foot food service stand,

bui lt in 1950, at the corner of Hoover

Street and 43rd Place in South Los An-

geles, has stood vacant for many years, a blight magnet attracting illegal dumpers

and homeless campers. It has been on our

reports since October 2013 and it has been

under an abate order from Building and

Safety since August 2014. Illegal swap

meets are often held on the Hoover side

using the fence to hang clothing for sale.

The place is owned by 82-year-old

retired attorney Harold W. Dickens. In ad-

dition to the abandoned food stand, online

agencies report that Mr. Dickens has 3 other

properties: an apartment at 1245 Martin Lu-

ther King Jr Blvd., #101, LA 90037, a two- bedroom house at 3842 S Hobart Blvd., LA

90062, and a three-bedroom house at 14905

S. White Avenue in Compton. His son has

told us that he only keeps the burger stand as

a tax write-o, ignoring the perpetual grief

it inicts on the surrounding neighborhood.

The layout of the property would seem

to make it too dicult to open the food

stand. It is surrounded by a tall wrought

iron fence keeping customers away from

the service window, and if the fence

was removed the large empty lot would

make it even more attractive to transients

for night camping. It would be most ef -fectively used to build something new

that used the whole of the large space.

Mr. Dickens says he is unwilling to sell.

The Building and Safety website gives

the following code violation information:

“The building or premises is Substandard

due to inadequate sanitation caused by gen-

eral dilapidation or improper maintenance of

the building as required by Section 91.8104.

“The premises are Substandard due

to an accumulation of weeds, vegetation,

junk, dead organic matter, debris, garbage,

oal, rat harborages, stagnant water, com- bustible materials and similar materials or

conditions.” The inspector is Jerey Corpuz,

213-252-3946. In our most recent visit, on

March 16, we saw what looks like home-

less gear stashed behind the burger stand.

construction fence around the property.

In April 2015 after a long search we lo-

cated Doris Crader’s son. Originally named

Brian Crader, he had adoped his mother’s

married name of Clayton and changed

the spelling of his first name to Brion.

Mr. Clayton informed Deputy City At-

torney Alvan Arzu that he intended to open

a probate case to gain title to the vacant

house. During the summer of 2015 Build-

ing and Safety agreed to give Mr. Clayton

keys to the city’s chain link fence, and he

has visited the property a number of times

since then, but online records still list Doris

Crader as the owner. Now, about a year later,

Mr. Clayton has not claimed the house. It

may be time for him to either move ahead

with his plan or for the city to auction

the house to recover its lien for cleaning

boarding, and fencing the property. This

would be a kindness to the neighborhood

Sixty-nine neighbors have signed a

petition to City Council District 8 coun

cilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson

asking that the city take some more de-

cided action to see the house not re-

main empty in its present condition.

What appears to be homeless gear on

the burger stand property on

March 16, 2016.


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Homeless Locations and Issues

This alley is just north of the 10 Freeway and runs east from

Normandie to Mariposa. The camp in the photo on the left is at the

west end of the alley. We rst observed it in December 2013, and

reported it to LA Homeless Services Authority. The camp at right

Alley between 10 Fwy and 20th St, east of Normandie

appeared in September 2014 at the east end of the alley. The man

at the east end says he has applications in for housing but they

have not come through. Both camps still there on 3-14-2016.

Hoover Street under the 10 Freeway

NEW. This camp had been here for several months, then in February was cleared by Sanitation workers. The occupant

simply moved his stu to the next block to the north. By March 12 he had carted it all back under the freeway overpass.


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Cal Trans Bunker, eastbound o-ramp of the 10 Freeway at Vermont Ave.

Homeless people have been living in this Cal Trans bunker since sometime early in 2014. Until Septembe

2015 one thin, gray-haired Caucasian man was living here. Then a young Latino couple moved in. In our Febru

ary 13, 2016 photo (left above) there were blankets hanging as evidence of occupancy. In visit on March 12 ther

was no visible sign of someone living there. We will check again in April but the bunker may have been vacated.

Hoover Street at 10 Freeway Oramp

NEW. This homeless material rst seen March 12, 2016, on

the west side of Hoover near the 10 Freeway eastbound oramp.

Washington Blvd. at Bonsallo Avenue

NEW. Both sides of Washington Blvd. as it passes under

the 10 Freeway have had large and small homeless camps tha

come and go. Clear for several months, this camp on the wes

side of Washington at Bonsallo rst seen March 12, 2016.


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1655 W. Adams Blvd, LA 90007

In March 2014 one RV and two travel trailers were moved onto

this mostly empty lot (a small carriage house exists in the back). Theowner says they have been occupied by three mentally ill veterans.

In November 2015 it was raised to two travel trailers and two RVs,

plus a travel trailer in the far back not visible in this photo that pre-

dates the current four vehicles. In view of March 14 one of the travel

trailers is gone but the foreground is lled with stored more stored

cars than before. Building and Safety has a case against the property

for using it as a place to live, but very reasonably is not pursuing it

and we think everyone concerned understands that it is better that

these men have their mobile homes than to be out on the streets.

Harvard Blvd. just south of

Adams Blvd.

This camp is by a man named Chris. He was living on the

sidewalk next to a strip mall just north of Adams Blvd. on Hobart

Blvd. from sometime in 2013 to July 2015, up against a bar

ricade while a new building was under construction. When the

building was nished he moved across Adams and one block to

the east. We have had one complaint about him from the Em

powerment Congress North Area Neighborhood Developmen

Council. His camp was much larger in November, was cleared

and now has been mostly rebuilt. This photo, March 14, 2016.

10 Freeway onramp siding at

Vermont Ave.

NEW. Camp up against 10 Free-

way eastbound onramp at Vermont

Avenue, March 12, 2016. There had been a camp here in September 2015

but it was gone in mid-October.


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We rst included this camp in our May 2015 report. The entrance from the dirt path running left from the freeway

is wedged between the wall of shrubbery, which stretches west along the freeway margin, and a wrought iron fence

covered with ivy that separates the Cal Trans property from Frank’s Auto Center at 2137 S. Western. We think there

are about three men living there, who panhandle cars as they exit the freeway. This photo from a visit of 3-16-2016.

E a s t b o u n d o f f - r a m p o f t h e 1 0 F r e e w a y a t W e s t e r n A v e n u e

This one-man homeless camp was set up in May 2015. Kenneth

lives here with his two dogs. His aunt and uncle live on the other

side of the fence he is camped against. Animal Services thought

one of his dogs, a big brindle lab mix, was too aggressive, so Ken-

Alley west of Normandie Ave. between 37th Place and 37th Drive

neth this month took the dog and skateboarded three miles to theSouth Los Angeles Animal Shelter to have the dog neutered. I me

the dog several times before that and he is perfectly friendly. Ken

neth would like to get real housing. This photo 3-14-2016.— LE


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Homeless at Crenshaw Blvd. where it runs over the 10 Freeway

T h ere a r e cu r r en t l y a s ma l l n u mb er o f h o me l e s s men s ca t t e r ed a ro u n d t h e o n an d o f f -

ramps of the 10 Freeway on both sides of the Crenshaw Blvd. bridge. Going clockwise from the top left:

(1) East bound oramp at the southwest end of the bridge. (2) The long-standing camp at the south end under the Crenshaw

bridge. (3) The fanciful science ction car at the west bound onramp on the west side of Crenshaw. He says he has been reported

to the police by motorists who though his car, built from scrap, contained a missile launcher. (4)NEW. The two shopping carts

are about 100 yards along the westbound freeway onramp at the north end of the bridge. They may belong to the fellow whoowns the sci car. (5) Northeast side of the bridge where westbound cars exit the freeway. The man in the white shirt and cap

appears to live on the freeway margin there and regularly panhandles from cars waiting for the light. Photos taken 3-16-2016.


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Alley West of Menlo Ave.

between 43rd Street and 43rd Place

This half-block-long alley running west from Menlo

Ave. hides a homeless camp. The alley ends at the west

in a north south alley that blocks it from continuing to the

next street, Vermont Avenue. We first noticed it on May

17, 2015. This photo is from a visit on March 16, 2016.

Vermont Ave at 40th Place

Camp just o sidewalk in block south of Martin Luther King

Jr Blvd., 3-16-2016. In our report rst in January 2016.

Alley running south from Jeerson just east

of Crenshaw

There had been four or ve homeless men living in this al -

ley in 2014, then one died and the camp dispersed. One man

set up a camp in May 2015. In a July 14 site visit a man and

a woman were camping in the alley. Since February there

seem to be three people living here. Photo of 3-14-2016.


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39th Street, just east of Flower Street, under Harbor Freeway Bridge

Currently the most extensive set of camps in Southwest LAPD’s territory, followed by the camps on the

42nd Street Bridge over the Harbor Freeway just to the south. First in our report for June 2015. These pho -

tos are from 3-16-2016. The top photo is the south side of 39th Street, just east of Flower. The next below is the

same side one block east, just after a freeway oramp. The bottom photo is the north side just at Flower Street.


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40th Place at Flower Street, LA 90037

The tent in the photo was part of a long string of camps in a narrow

walkway running north from 40 Place and Flower street, between a

MacDonalds and the Harbor Freeway, All but this one were cleared

in December 2015. The other campers relocated to the west side ofFlower Street just south of 40th Place (see photos below on this page).

Flower Street south of 40th Place

This is a short alley running westward from Flower Street just south of 40th Place. In mid-January

it was blocked at the sidewalk line by one large tent, at that time the only camp there. On February

12 we found the alley lled with camps, and the barricade at the sidewalk line was more formal, with

a large table braced on its side to limit entrance to the alley. Still blockaded on March 11, 2016.

Camp s o n s i d ew a l k j u s t s o u t h o f 4 0 t h P l ace o n w es t s i d e o f F l o w er

S t r e e t , a c r o s s f r o m t h e 1 1 0 F r e e w a y . P h o t o : M a r c h 1 1 , 2 0 1 6 .


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42nd Street Bridge over Harbor Freeway, south Side

March 11, 2016. This is the largest collection of camps on that sidewalk in several years. The location hit this size in February.

Flower Street north of 43rd Street

Photo 3-11-2016.

43rd Street Bridge over Harbor Freewaynorth Side

Photo: 3-11-2016.

Bus stop on south side of Jeerson Blvd., just

east of CrenshawHomeless people spend long periods or camp on this bus bench

in front of the ARCO gas station on the southeast corner of Jef -

ferson and Crenshaw Boulevards. This photo is from 3-14-2016.


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1749 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.

NEW. LAPD Senior Lead Ocer Pierre Olega tells us that the trash on the sidewalk

and the shopping cart inside the gate of the court at right, at 1749 W. Martin Luther King Jr.

Blvd., belong to a homeless woman. She lives in part on the sidewalk in front of the court,

and sometimes inside the gate, where her shopping cart is in this photo of March 16, 2016.

Alley between Browning Blvd. and

Leighton Ave. west of Western Ave.NEW. LAPD Senior Lead Ocer Pierre Olega on March

8 took me to meet Roy P., an older man who is currently

living in this alley. Roy is a talented artist. He says he is not

homeless but is a citizen of the earth. The owner of the res-

taurant against which he is camped had just held a cleanup in

which all of Roy’s paints and art materials had been thrown

out. This photo is from my retun visit on March 16. — LE


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4501 W Martin Luther King Jr.

Blvd.

This gear belongs to homeless man

David Odom. We visited the location rst

on March 19, 2015, but had been told abou

it by LAPD ocers some months earlier

Odom keeps his belongings on an island for

the MTA buses. Photo as of 3-16-2015.

Leimert Plaza Park, LA 90008Leimert Plaza Park, a central feature of the Leimert Park neighborhood, has been overwhelmed by home -

less campers. The small park is bounded by 43rd Place on the north, Vernon Avenue on the south, Crenshaw Blvd

on the west, and Leimert Blvd. on the east. The homeless originally congregated at the west end of the park, but

by November 2015 had taken over virtually the whole of the place with tents, sleeping bags, blankets, and cook -

ing pots. In late January or early February there was a city cleanup that seized all the many tents and home-made

shelters. Since mid-February the only camps are at the west end of the park. This photo is from March 14.

Documents

Homeless and Problem Property Report March 2016