Los Angeles cave dwellers evicted by Caltrans

May 30, 2009 at 1:59 pm in Uncategorized

Its not uncommon for the homeless to take up shelter in abandoned homes and other structures, but it always leaves the question of whether or not property owners or the government should allow it if they’re not harming anyone else.

CNN.com posted a video report showing a homeless encampment built in a cave beneath a Los Angeles freeway that apparently was home to more than a dozen transients.

A homeless woman says she visited often and claims the space, the size of half a football field, was carpeted, and furnished with sheeted beds and couches. In the report, Caltrans workers cleaning up the site found needles, graffitti, and pornography among piles of trash.

Regardless of how these people were living, is it right to evict them from a shelter nobody else is using, especially in an economy where existing services for homeless are being both overwhelmed while also being drastically cut back?

7 Comments »

boyhowdy

typical. the “war on homelessness” in l.a. is really more like a war on the homeless.
philpalm

Well they reduced the number of homeless at MacArthur Park. It took the removal of drug dealers and active cleanup of alleys and other “homeless” campsites to do it.

Hollywood and Downtown skid row seems to be the defacto area to be homeless so long as Nimbys and other newsgroups don’t report them.

I believe that there are homeless that constantly tries to colonize a homeless encampment in Beverly Hills the general rule is not be too noticeable…
http://la.metblogs.com Lucinda Michele

I think there are three main factors that cause homelessness: poverty, mental illness & drug addiction. All three elements have various causes of their own and various ways they could be helped. And not enough people are helping.

It’s a jungle out there, and too few of us think about how much we could help other people, and how we really don’t need everything we have. There’s so much extra we could share.
http://www.twitter.com/VictoriaLane Victoria Lane

I spoke to a homeless man this evening on my way home from LA Live. He told me that he’s not welcomed at any of the Missions downtown because he stood up for himself during a robbery of what little he had. So, even the places intended to help people in dire circumstances are not always available.

I honestly feel it is a basic human right to have a place to sleep. If it isn’t hurting anyone or putting anyone in danger, why does it matter?
iluvhatemail

There is more to this story. The only entrance to this area was a couple small ventilation holes. When they came by to inspect it the police saw dead animals all around. It was probably infested with rats. So this is no place to live, even for the homeless, and they claim they put each one of those people in temporary housing and got them medical treatment. But there is a big issue that still needs to be dealt with is what to do with the general homeless population. I’m afraid that is very low on the order of importance for our city right now. It’s going to get worse before getting better.
laexpat

Let ‘em be.

Hell, my former LA house is in foreclosure so they can have that… if they don’t mess up the new tile or the hardwood. Show a little class, people…and be polite to the neighbors.
http://www.thehobosoul.com/blog/?p=2582 Homeless Encampment under the 10 freeway | The Hobosoul

[...] I found this info from friend David Markland on LA Metblogs. [...]

Los Angeles cave dwellers evicted by Caltrans

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