Tents, makeshift shacks and broken-down RVs crowded both sidewalks under a U.S. Highway 101 overpass in Hollywood seven months ago.
More than two-dozen people lived in the squalid encampment, feet from cars flying past. Neighbors and nearby businesses fumed, saying they and their customers felt unsafe.
On a Wednesday afternoon last month, all traces of the tents – and the people who lived in them – were gone. The sidewalks were spotless, without even a speck of trash.
What happened?
The site was part of a Los Angeles homeless program called Inside Safe – Mayor Karen Bass’ answer to the city’s staggering homelessness crisis. Under the new initiative, outreach workers move from encampment to encampment, offering everyone at each targeted camp a hotel room. From there, the goal is to move everyone quickly from the hotel into permanent housing.
There’s a lot riding on its success at a local, state and even national level. Bass has all but staked her tenure as mayor on fighting Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis. And President Joe Biden’s administration picked L.A. as one of six places to focus its homelessness efforts.
Inside Safe already has been a godsend for people like Tim and Sandy, who live in a condo about two blocks from the overpass and are relieved to see the now-spotless sidewalks.
“It’s absolutely wonderful,” said Tim, who declined to provide his last name to protect his privacy. “I just hope it stays that way.”
Inside Safe has clear advantages over previous efforts to make a dent in L.A.’s homeless crisis. It removes the sprawling encampments that, as the city’s most visible symptom of homelessness, spark never-ending complaints. Advocates say it’s much easier to find long-term housing for people in hotel rooms than for people still in tents. Hotel rooms provide a safe place where residents can heal from the trauma of the street, get their documents in order and relearn how to live indoors. And it means their case…
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