A new program in Los Angeles is providing cleaning and garbage collection to certain homeless Angelenos with the goal of offering an alternative to mandatory city raids.
Steve Díaz, deputy director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN), said that the Streets Ambassadors program, of the Services Not Sweeps coalition, is active in two locations; Venice and Hollywood. There are two managers in Venice and one in Hollywood who organize the clean-ups around the camps.
“The goal is for them to clean up before the sanitation and wants to remove the homeless people who live there, ”said Díaz.
The organizer indicated that the reason why these two places were specifically chosen is because they are camps very close to the temporary houses known as Bridge Home in the city of Los Angeles. He added that homeless people have told him that they are not going to these houses because there is no more space.
When these houses were created, the city promised to keep the surrounding area clean and with more patrol surveillance.
Organizers indicated that the city of Los Angeles usually performs mandatory cleanups known as CARE + Cleanups. However, they force homeless residents with very little notice to remove their tents and belongings while sanitation workers sweep the area.
“But they do have the garbage. just waiting for the city the homeless residents give it to them and everything is fine, ”said Díaz.
The program is well seen by several residents of the area who are pleased to see that there is a effort to keep their neighborhood clean.
“On Sunday a lady arrived to help with the cleaning, thinking it was dirtier and she was impressed that people are cleaning,” said Díaz.
Thus, on Monday when the CARE + Cleanups group arrived, part of the work was already done and they did not have to invade the privacy of the people who live there.
Díaz said that the main objective is to ensure that community members can take advantage of sanitation services, to be able to be prepared in advance and have their belongings designated.
“Because often what happens is that sanitation shows up and they give them (a warning) of 15 minutes to prepare their things, ”said Díaz.
Motion supporting the program
On 12 January Councilors Mike Bonin (CD- 11) Nithya Raman (CD-4) highlighted the defense of “Sanitations Not Sweeps” in a motion calling for a new system to clean up homeless camps.
During a pilot program of voluntary sanitation services in the Bonin district, Los Angeles environmental and sanitation workers provided service on a schedule regular, similar to how sanitation services are provided to residential customers.
“In the midst of a deadly pandemic, we must take all necessary steps to protect public health,” Bonin said it said in a statement. “That means giving homeless people a safe place to stay, and refraining from displacing them when we don’t provide a place to stay.”
Bonin added that the city is still trying to clean up the camps to through a program that forces people out of their tents and confiscates their belongings.
“Instead, the city should humanely provide a voluntary sanitation program that offers a , just like we do with housed people, ”Bonin said.
The motion, which has not been scheduled for a vote by the city council, specifically asks LA Sanitation to develop voluntary protocols for the CARE + Citywide operations that:
- Occur in a regular hours.
- Offer services including trash and bulky items.
- Create designated areas for place trash and other debris.
- Use of community partners and ambassadors to the disclosure of information.
- Provide facilities or shady structures to help people homeless to relocate temporarily with their belongings during cleanings.
- Provide mobile showers, toilets , COVID testing – 19, exchange of tents, food and water.
- Hire homeless Angelenos to keep areas tidy between cleanings.
- Provide reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities.
- Failure to involve law enforcement personnel.
The motion noted that the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and COVID prevention guidelines – 19 stable They say that “clearing out camps can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for the spread of infectious diseases. ”
Councilmember Joe Buscaino has expressed his support for CARE + Cleanups, calling it the“ duty of the city to clean our sidewalks and preserve the public health and the safety of our outdoor spaces, especially during a pandemic ”.