L.A. begins seizing tiny houses from homeless people

[FLPanhandle]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tiny-houses-seized-20160224-story.html


Escalating their battle to stamp out an unprecedented spread of street encampments, city officials have begun seizing tiny houses from homeless people living on freeway overpasses in South Los Angeles.

Three of the gaily painted wooden houses, which come with solar-powered lights and American flags, were confiscated earlier this month and seven more are planned for impound Thursday, a Bureau of Sanitation spokeswoman said.

Elvis Summers, who built and donated the structures, was out Wednesday with a flat-bed trailer, trying to move houses scattered up and down Harbor Freeway bridges into storage.

"These people are beaten down so hard, you give them any opportunity to be normal, it lifts them up," Summers said.

The houses were removed as part of a street cleanup requested by the office of Councilman Curren Price, who represents the neighborhood, sanitation spokeswoman Elena Stern said. When the city took the houses, they didn't offer housing, they straight kicked them out.
T
he three houses taken in early February are being stored on a city equipment lot but ultimately will be destroyed, Stern added.

Some advocates for the homeless see the wooden, single-room structures — each about the size of a parking spot — as a simple and safer alternative to having the homeless sleep on the sidewalks.

Mayor Eric Garcetti's spokeswoman, Connie Llanos, said he is committed to getting homeless people into permanent and not makeshift housing.

[PoliticAverse]

1. Sadly this is not surprising, as you can't just start building houses that don't meet building codes

and placing them without permits (Price is a Democrat btw).

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Price is a Democrat, btw. Yeah, sounds like one.

[hughee99]

22. Mayor Garcetti is a Democrat as well.

He's the one on the right.

[Javaman]

5. they are not permenant structures.

that is the loop hole.

[PoliticAverse]

6. As the city has seized the structures it appears they have a differing view. n/t

[Javaman]

8. LOL

that doesn't mean a thing.

the city can do what it wants, the homeless have virtually no voice in L.A.

I lived, worked and for a time, was homeless, in Los Angeles. and I can tell you right now, the cops and the city will find any excuse real or imagined to justify their position to make the homeless feel less than human.

[AllyCat]

15. And living on the street meets code?

I'm not arguing with your point, just Los Angeles' point.

[PoliticAverse]

23. Due to federal court decisions in recent years, cities are limited in the ability to criminalize

homelessness itself, else they might be arresting people for just living on the street.

[Warpy]

28. Yes, especially sanitation codes

A better alternative would have been to park them on a city lot and bring in some porta potties, getting them off the highway shoulders where they really were a hazard.

Impounding people's homes is never a good idea, especially in a place like California. Pretty soon they'll have no marginal workers left to support the economy there.

Best outcome right now would be a lawyer taking the case pro bono to sue the city to get the houses back.

[NV Whino]

2. Insanity

They kick them back out on the street while they try to find them permanent housing. Like that's going to happen any time soon.

[monicaangela]

3. I hope he gets them into housing before they

remove them from their tiny homes:

[Glassunion]

29. Sadly not the case... They are taking the homes, and the city "hopes" to find them housing

in the next 1 to 3 months.

[monicaangela]

30. So does this mean

they are going to turn them back into the streets until they find housing for them? 1 to 3 months? If that's the case, I don't believe they plan to find housing for all of them. How sad.

[AllyCat]

31. Of course, Council Member Price says right on his Facebook page he is doing so much for homelessness

Send him a message to let him know what you think.

[Glassunion]

33. I'd be arrested

[tk2kewl]

7. no house for you. no homeless allowed. why won't you just disappear

[Marrah_G]

9. This is disgusting

it is inhumane. To keep people from finding shelter and food...we have lost our humanity as a society.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. So who decides what is "permanent" and what is "makeshift" ?

Human-built structures are temporary. Even pyramids don't last.

[Lorien]

11. Not surprising, a lot of the comments on the site are disgusting

There certainly are a lot of Americans who have zero compassion for their fellow human beings. I wonder how many of them consider themselves "Christians"? They seem to believe that homelessness is a choice by people who don't want to work and simply want to drink and shoot up all day, and that we shouldn't do a damn thing for them. smh.

[closeupready]

27. Prosperity Gospel! You see? Jesus enriches his true followers with wealth, cars, furs, and homes!

Poor people are probably bad people, so yeah, it all makes sense...

[Omaha Steve]

12. WTF?

[blackspade]

13. What a pack of heartless assholes.

Mayor Eric Garcetti's spokeswoman, Connie Llanos, said he is committed to getting homeless people into permanent and not makeshift housing.

So you kick people out of 'makeshift housing' without permanent housing for them to move into?
What a douche.
So they steal three houses from some folks, likely with all their possessions, and then destroy them? WTF?

[killbotfactory]

14. That'll teach them to have hope. nt

[dembotoz]

16. cities have buiding codes. the idea is to avoid shanty towns like they have in brazil

perhaps hard to after a slum lord when tiny homes are ignored

do not get me wrong i love the idea, but i can see problems for the neighborhoods they are built in

[tabasco]

17. Unconscionable.

The United States of America is a backwards, soulless society.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. In all jurisdictions where people have been GIVEN apartments, outcomes are great

Crime goes down, people get healthier, they can get jobs, they start taking care of themselves, mental health issues improve, the list goes on.

It has been repeatedly proven that when you GIVE homeless people a room or apartment, it saves money and promotes well-being for everyone, not only those given accommodation.

[NeoGreen]

19. WTF

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-0825-homeless-tiny-houses-20150825-story.html

Elvis Summers, right, with a tiny house on wheels he built for Irene "Smokie" McGhee. (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)

Elvis Summers, who is responsible for building most of the tiny homes, said in an interview that he is trying to give the homeless the boost they need to get off the streets and that he will fight back if city officials try to confiscate the structures.

"They're stupid if they think I won't file a lawsuit of my own," he said.

Earlier this year, Summers, who lives in South Los Angeles, posted a video on YouTube showing how he constructed a tiny home for a 60-year-old homeless woman. The video drew millions of viewers and Summers has since raised more than $85,000 online to construct more such shelters for the homeless as part of a project he calls Tiny House, Huge Purpose. He said he and others have built dozens of the houses.

[KamaAina]

20. Xposted to California group

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1040

[99th_Monkey]

21. Portland OR is encouraging encampments, that are self-policed, well-organized, sanitary, etc.

I'm proud to say that I helped organize the very first one 16 years ago, and it's still doing just fine:
http://dignityvillage.org

That is atrocious what LA is doing!!
Why does LA have their heads so far up their asses on this one?

[PoliticAverse]

24. Yes, I posted an article about Dignity Village on DU back in Jan 2015...

( http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016111696 ).

Note though the long process involving in starting it involved repeated skirmishes with the city the homeless went
through before the Dignity Village compromise, as detailed in their history at: http://dignityvillage.org/history/origins/
Also note that the Village was built on the outskirts of the city:

The third group moved to an industrial area in NE Portland, Sunderland Yard, where the Village still sits.

Moving to the Sunderland Yard site was indeed controversial. Some early members of Dignity Village felt it was too far outside the city, doomed to failure because residents wouldn’t be able to access necessary services

[99th_Monkey]

25. "Some ...felt it was too far outside the city" <- absolutely true

And it is a challenge, but it was that or nothing, so the Village voted narrowly to take the offer,
and worked their asses off to make it work despite being so far out of the central city.

There's now a second effort, that's been underway for several years, called "Right To Dream Too",
that took over a downtown lot owned by a private entrepreneur who was at-odds with the
city re: zoning and building regulations; so he simply allowed R2D2 (as they're affectionately called)
to camp out there, using it as a "rest station" for people to get a safe & hassle-free night's sleep,
with their belongings secure, etc.

R2D2 has been another years-long struggle, but just yesterday the city council voted 4-1 to allow
them to move just across the river (still VERY central) to a vacant lot owned by the city, and to
continue providing their important services to the hopeless population. This is a huge victory for
homeless people and for all of us really.

Prominent homeless camp Right 2 Dream Too will move to the Central Eastside later this year as part of a controversial plan approved Wednesday by the Portland City Council.

The eventual move -- years in the making -- will allow the campsite to remain on city-owned property at Southeast Third Avenue and Harrison Street for 10 years.

"I'm looking forward to this being a success," Mayor Charlie Hales said.

The City Council voted 4-1 to approve the move with Commissioner Nick Fish opposed. The camp's relocation will go forward barring a land-use appeal from opponents, such as the Central Eastside Industrial Council.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/02/city_council_oks_right_2_dream.html#incart_river_index

[ian cameron dromore]

26. The new Favela's

This is a really sad story, with no mention of actually helping these people. Whilst the city would not want a modern day favela this thing is only going to get worse as the gap between rich and poor expands.

[Liberal_in_LA]

32. awwww.