Hollywood Residents Furious As Homeless Camps ‘Engulf’ LA Streets

(RepublicanReport.org) – Hollywood’s homeless population has gotten out of control, and its mortgage- and rent-paying locals have had enough. They claim encampments have “engulfed” the sidewalks that lead to two local schools, forcing children to walk in the street and dodge traffic to avoid contact. They reportedly face nudity, needles, and human excrement on a regular basis. Concerned residents want the city to do something about it, but multiple calls to police have done little to permanently address the problem.

Mixed Intervention

The encampment stretches along a street a corner away from the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. KTLA 5 reports that school officials claim they’ve made numerous calls to police, adding that nine incidents occurred between March and mid-May involving homeless individuals within 500 feet of one school. The complaints only led to a total of five arrests.

One resident, Kevin Dalton, told “Fox & Friends First” that the city council has been hesitant to clear out the makeshift communities for fear of causing harm. The officials reportedly implied that the majority of its homeless residents were hard-luck cases, but Dalton said that from his observations, the people living in those tents were “out there getting high.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has reportedly been attempting to tackle different areas in her jurisdiction. ABC 7 News states the city has taken advantage of the Inside Safe program to clear out at least one camp. Voters approved the emergency shelter program in 2017 to provide temporary hotel rooms to homeless individuals, but little has occurred to address solutions for keeping recipients off the streets for good.

California’s Larger Epidemic

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will be the first to admit the state has gotten nowhere in its fight against homelessness. He recently joined Fox News Host Sean Hannity for an interview, during which he attempted to blame the continued high rate on skyrocketing housing costs, local pushback, and regulatory red tape. He added that he’s only been in office for four years, noting the problem has been ongoing for much longer than that.

Currently, about one-third of the US’ total homeless population lives in California — a figure even the governor can agree is “disgraceful.” He’s toyed with multiple housing policies, but the issue appears to be outside his grasp to fix. In just four years, according to The Wall Street Journal, Newsom threw $17.5 billion at attempted solutions, but nothing has changed. Homelessness in numerous cities, with leaders in Oakland and San Francisco also struggling to find solutions, continues to be a major issue across the Golden State.