LOS ANGELES – By 9 a.m. Monday morning, Los Angeles city workers had mostly cleared a large, long-standing homeless camp on South Vermont Avenue that had become a breeding ground for violence and crime.
Tractors scraped the streets, lifting garbage and debris into waiting sanitation trucks while a police car and a parking enforcement vehicle remained nearby. By the end of the afternoon, the majority of the 3-4 dozen campers, trailers and dilapidated cars that had been parked on both sides of the side pocket street, from W. 65th to S. Florence Avenue, was gone.
The streets remained clear into the evening, as residents seemed to be hesitant to park where they haven’t been able to do so since well before the COVID-19 pandemic, when the encampment formed, and began to grow.
By Tuesday morning, a handful of cars were parked near W. 68th , as a few scattered campers –and one vehicle in which a man is living – remained parked on the south end of the stretch. Piles of garbage still dot each block, streets are still stained, and sidewalk and curb areas smell like urine.
But it is a start for residents and business owners whose property lines the street, or which is near it. Over the last two years, in particular, the encampment has become a magnet for violent incidences, including shootings and fights. Last month LAPD shot and killed a dog tied up outside a trailer at 70th and Vermont, after it bit a person.
Related: Op-Ed: Why I left South LA for Carson
The removal of residents and vehicles is part of Mayor Karen Bass’ “Inside Safe” initiative that
aims to house 17,000 homeless residents by the end of this year – her first in office.
City officials began clearing out homeless in January, shortly after she took office, and have kept a steady pace of 1-2 per week.
The homeless are relocated to temporary housing via the Los Angeles Homeless Services authority, emergency vouchers, and some have moved into new permanent housing projects.
City officials then keep tabs on the sites of former encampments to make sure they do not repopulate.
This is not the first time a homeless area has been cleared in the 8th District, but it might be one of the largest and most long-standing encampments.
Neither Councilor Marqueece Harris-Dawson nor Bass would return calls for comment on the effort to clear the Vermont corridor.
Bass did tell the media recently that her administration has put about 14,000 homeless residents into housing.
The city is currently estimated to have about 42,000 people living on the streets.