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August 21, 2024

Six Unhoused People Dying Each Day in Los Angeles Amid Brutal Crackdown, Failed Policies
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A new report by Human Rights Watch has accused the city of Los Angeles
of implementing a "cruel, expensive, and ineffective policy" of
criminalizing unhoused people. The report says the city's systematic
"sweeps" on the dwellings of unhoused people only serve to remove them
from public view and focus on punishment and quick fixes rather than
addressing the dire housing and care needs they face. This is Michelle,
one of the unhoused people featured in Human Rights Watch's video
accompanying their report.

Michelle: "They woke us up this morning telling us that they're going to
do a clean sweep and that to grab what we can and to get out, because
they were taking everything else. They take our food. They took all my
underclothes. They took all my shoes. They leave us with no resources.
So we're stuck here until we can manage to get something to eat or clean
water or whatever it is, because they don't care."

As a result of Los Angeles's policies, death rates of unhoused people
have skyrocketed with an average of more than six unhoused people dying
in L.A. County every day. A Black person is six times more likely to be
unhoused in L.A. than a white person. The situation is likely to get
even worse as California Governor Gavin Newsom recently ordered local
authorities to remove encampments following a Supreme Court ruling which
criminalized sleeping in public places.


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