Homeless sweeps do nothing to help homeless people or housed people. They only make homelessness worse, and with the numbers growing, homeless sweeps are insane.
Zach is homeless in North Hollywood, California. Zach has no place to go other than a tent on the sidewalk. No one is offering him services or support. LA Sanitation destroyed two tents and people’s belongings inside because they were not there. Zach was lucky to be able to move his tent, and as soon as the homeless sweep was over, he moved back because he had nowhere else to go.
Taxpayers pay over $70 million each year for the Los Angeles Police Department and LA Sanitation to displace homeless people under the guise of street cleaning. We all want clean streets, yet homeless sweeps only make homelessness worse! The only way to keep streets clean is to solve homelessness; however, LA’s politicians continue to invest more in pushing homeless people out of sight than helping them. Homeless sweeps do nothing to help people, and they make homelessness worse.
If you live in Los Angeles, here is a link for the City Council contact information broken down by district. Please reach out to your legislators to demand they stop the sweeps.
Nationally, please support Housing Not Handcuffs
We all must advocate for more housing and support services and stop homeless sweeps at the local level. At the same time, we must continue to pressure state and federal legislators. Your voice can help end homelessness. If we do not fix the affordable housing crisis, homelessness will worsen.
Click here to tweet, email, call, or Facebook your federal and state legislators to tell them ending homelessness and creating more affordable housing is a priority to you.
More stories on LA’s Homeless Sweeps:
We Visited a Homeless Encampment Two Days after a Sweep
WATCH the Horrible Reality of LA’s Homeless Sweeps
Woman Loses Everything in Los Angeles Homeless Sweep
Playlist of our anti-sweep videos: https://invisiblepeople.tv/stopsweeps
