LA homelessness organizations weigh pros and cons of possible city-sanctioned encampments
Four people live in a cluttered tent tucked into the back corner of a park in South Los Angeles’s Baldwin Village.
One of the residents is a 30-year-old transgender woman who gave her name as Moriiah (cq). She is among the more than 34,000 people who are homeless in Los Angeles, according to a report released in September by City Controller Ron Galperin.
“I’m waiting for my section eight apartment to be ready, so until then, I would like to live in peace,” she said. “But you can’t with a lot of people who are judgmental and racist. They don’t want certain people around so they go snitch and tell and laugh behind your back and things which makes it hard for me to stay where I want to stay.”
Moriiah’s struggle for permanent housing is a hardship an increasing number of Angelenos are facing. The population of people without adequate housing has increased by 80 percent since 2009 for a variety of reasons, ranging from mental illness to exorbitant housing costs, according to Galperin’s report.
The solutions listed in the report vary, but include such things as storage units for the homeless, helping to pay for transportation to storage facilities and using city land as emergency campgrounds and shelters.
But those solutions are intermediate and superficial, said several leaders of community groups that help people who are homeless. Solutions should address the larger problems of housing availability and affordability, they said.
“From the philosophy we take on assisting homeless individuals, this solution would not work for us,” said Candace Leos, communications manager for Midnight Mission, a South Los Angeles community organization that helps those experiencing homelessness. “We believe in giving people the tools that will set them on the bridge to self-sufficiency.”
The Mission helps people with medical, mental and addiction problems. They also provide education and career counseling, and support while individuals save money and transition into housing.
Leos said she worries a city camp could damage the relationships the homelessness organization makes with the people they are trying to help get back on their feet.
“Right now, when someone comes into our facility for even a meal, it’s a chance for us to connect with them, for us to get to know one another and build trust,” she said. “If you took people and put them into an area, they probably wouldn’t come into our place and wouldn’t have the opportunity to connect with the help that they so desperately need.”
Leos is also apprehensive about the potential living and health conditions in an official encampment. A city-sanctioned camp does not equate to secure, permanent housing.
“I think without adequate controls and police, these [camps] can become quite out of control and dangerous,” she said. “People don’t deserve to live like that either. We need affordable housing. People deserve to have a roof over their heads.”
The desire for a permanent solution was echoed in an email from Rachel Kassenbrock of the Downtown Women’s Center, an organization dedicated to providing support for women dealing with poverty and homelessness.
“Based on our organization’s nearly 40 years of service in the community, we know that permanent solutions, such as permanent housing accompanied with supportive services, is the only way to end homelessness,” she said.
John Fields, an employee at the Salvation Army Hope Harbor in South Los Angeles, said in email that he worried about the health conditions at city-sanctioned encampments.
The recent outbreak of hepatitis A among the homeless population in Southern California has a lot of residents concerned. Hepatitis A is an extremely contagious viral liver disease. The best defenses against its spread are vaccination and washing hands with soap and water, according to the LA County Department of Public Health website.
Fields wondered how the city would manage trash and collection at city-sanctioned camps. “It is my experience that the amount of trash that is accumulated by each person is enormous,” he said.
Waste management in a city with a rapidly growing homeless population has become an increasingly difficult challenge. LA’s 15th Council District, overseen by councilmember Joe Busciano, includes Watts, San Pedro and Harbor City.
Busciano’s website lists several steps for clearing unsanctioned homeless encampments reported to the city, including city workers sorting through items and then requiring the owner to pick them up at a Downtown location.
Providing sanctioned homeless encampments on city property could help districts control waste and the spread of diseases like Hepatitis A by offering a secure and sanitary living environment. Many cities across the country are grappling with a meteoric rise in homeless residents. Seattle and Portland have had city-sanctioned camps for years.
Los Angeles is one of several municipalities in California considering similar setups including Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento. San Diego County opened its first official homeless encampment near Balboa Park in the beginning of October and is planning to add more.
The county provides social services and staffing at the new camp that is operated by the Alpha Project, an organization that has been dedicated to helping the homeless for more than three decades. The Balboa Park encampment provides tents, showers, food and restrooms for roughly 350 people.
“People are super grateful to be off the streets and be safe,” said Amy Gonyeau, Alpha Project’s chief operating officer. “We have seen a huge success. The goal with the project is that they stay less than 120 days. The goal is to find permanent housing.”
While Leos from Midnight Mission in South LA has some reservations about the possible impact official city camps could have on nonprofit relationships with homeless patrons, Gonyeau said the San Diego encampment has actually helped foster bonds between organization employees and the homeless people living there.
According to Gonyeau, having a central, controlled location for those without homes to camp makes it easier to manage sanitation, stay in contact, provide services and security.
“We are always at capacity here,” she said. “It’s a need, let’s put it that way. We need to get them off the streets to stay safe. It’s a lot easier when they’re in one spot.”
Like Moriiah, people facing housing insecurity in South LA and the rest of the city, will have to endure as best they can until government leaders implement better processes to help or, ideally, come up with a permanent solution to the current crisis.
