While driving around the west side of Los Angeles, we came across a homeless woman moving all of her belongings to the sidewalk. We thought that maybe they were cleaning the area, but to our shock, LA Sanitation pulled up and started to load everything that this woman owned into a garbage truck. In the last three months, Holly has had all of her belongings taken eight times.
Holly once had a great job, but after going through a divorce, her life snowballed into homelessness. Holly keeps applying for jobs, but no one wants to hire a homeless person.
We all want clean streets. We all want homeless encampments gone. But homeless sweeps and the ongoing criminalization of homelessness only make homelessness worse. With homeless numbers growing, we need to get people off the streets into housing with the help they need. We cannot arrest our way out of homelessness. In each area, a homeless sweep displaces homeless people without providing them a place to go; in a day or two, tents and shacks return to that spot.
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.
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