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Homeless encampments have long been an unavoidable feature of Los Angeles neighborhoods, but businesses are reporting that they’re slowly seeing more unsheltered people living in the area.
That could be the simple fact that there are so many people living on the streets.
“With the increase in homelessness comes the increase in unsheltered homelessness, so these individuals who cannot use (risk) shelter or temporary shelter and are therefore experiencing homelessness more visibly,” said Lorena Sanchez, Executive Director of Communications. Development Officer for the Downtown Women’s Center.
“They are sleeping outside. “Camps are going up and there’s nowhere to camp and many of them are right in front of or encroaching on businesses.”
All time high
Even though the city hasn’t conducted a head count since 2020, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles remains high. The county, which is experiencing homelessness, is up nearly 13 percent from the 2019 census. The city of Los Angeles saw a 16 percent increase, to 41,290 people.
In April, LAHSA Executive Director Heidi Marston stepped down after city officials stepped up efforts to eradicate signs of homelessness, including sweeping encampments and anti-camping ordinances, rather than focusing on the root causes. A problem such as wages not keeping pace with the cost of living and housing shortages.
The Los Angeles City Council voted 11-3 last month to ban homeless people from sitting or sleeping within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers. The council’s vote also expanded the ordinance that allows the city to ban homeless people within 500 or 1,000 feet of places such as schools, sidewalks or homeless shelters that get permits and post signs. The ordinance, however, does not prohibit homeless individuals from setting up camp in front of businesses.
Jessica Lall, executive director of the Los Angeles Central City Association, said, “The homelessness crisis affects everyone in our community, no one…more than the homeless, who still live on our streets.
“I think the business community and our organization are focused on solutions and looking at how we can make our systems better to serve our most vulnerable Angelenos,” Lal said.
The homelessness crisis affects everyone in the community.
Jessica Lal
Los Angeles Central City Association
A collaborative effort
Lol expressed his opinion that different sectors of Los Angeles should work together to solve the crisis.
“We think the city of L.A. can do more to continue cutting red tape, to allow more housing to be built faster and more affordably,” Lal said. “We also believe that LA County’s mental health departments, foster care, criminal justice system have a very significant and important role to play, so we’ve been pushing and engaging in processes that better coordinate these resources.”
Business owners from various industries have the potential to lend their expertise to the government as they work out how to deal with the crisis, he said.
“I think the business community has the will, the compassion (and) the resources to lend to the government to help them overcome this problem. I don’t think one government can solve this problem alone,” Lal continued. It requires us to come together, working directly with government and elected officials to help find solutions to homelessness. And I think hopefully it will continue.
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