• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
WRAP

WRAP

Western Regional Advocacy Project

  • Donate Now
  • Get Email Updates
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • About
    • 40 Years of Fighting
    • History
    • Mission
    • Strategy
    • Members
    • Board / Staff
  • Campaigns
    • Business Improvement Districts
    • House Keys Not Sweeps
    • Homeless Bill of Rights
    • Oregon Right To Rest
    • Without Housing
    • Street Outreach
  • Organizing Tools
    • Without Housing Organizing Toolkit
    • Homeless Bill of Rights Campaign Manual
    • WRAP Organizers Manual
    • WRAP Artwork
  • Resources
    • Pipe Dreams and Picket Fences Report
    • Art in Action Power Point Slide Show
    • Hobos to Street People
    • House Keys Book
    • Political Education
    • Legal Research
  • Media
    • Newsletters
    • Blog
    • Hobos to Street People Art Show
    • Street Newspapers
    • Sweeps Gallery Videos
    • Videos
  • Support Us
    • Donate
    • Become a Monthly Sustainer
    • Volunteer
    • Support WRAP
    • WRAP Newsletters & Updates Sign Up

Los Angeles, CA. Fences

October 18, 2021 by Jonathan Leave a Comment

Every fence erected around a park represents LA’s continued failure to house houseless people. Every fence illegally placed on a sidewalk illustrates the “dirty divide,” primed, seemingly sanctioned and assisted by the government. Fences are the truest expression of banishment and death, faux care and failure, demarcation, and segregation. Much more than metal objects, these are borders and this is apartheid, plain and simple. State violence will be used to enforce the perimeter of public space denied to its poorest residents; those who are relegated to spaces where access to clean air, clean water, fresh food and proper sanitation are not a given.

The fences also point us toward another set of evictions happening simultaneously. While the public bears witness to the loss of community and services in our parks and neighborhoods, -they don’t see the behind-the curtain ejection of those in Project Room Key (the all but failed $100 million-plus program to repurpose hotels and motels emptied by the coronavirus as safe havens for medically-vulnerable houseless people) to make space for the new arrivals. Those who were temporarily housed through Project Room Key are again becoming houseless, and others previously houseless will become temporarily housed in carceral conditions, thus continuing a vicious cycle that doesn’t end in permanent supportive or affordable housing.

The Los Angeles County plan to lease hotel and motel rooms for 15,000 topped out at just over 4,300 guests, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. The goal was to find those people permanent housing while they stayed isolated in unused hotel rooms. Yet more than 1,200 of those L.A. County residents who took part in Project Room Key are still waiting for permanent housing,CBS2LA reported.

Ananya Roy, director of UCLA’s Institute on Inequality and Democracy, whose group has been in contact with residents who returned to the streets after their initial placements, said that it was unclear if residents in shelters would receive permanent housing. “People are scattered and disappeared,” she said. “And there’s just a waning of what I call COVID compassion. We’re on the brink of a regime of pretty severe exclusion,” according to the Guardian.

Only a minority of houseless people gain access to permanent housing. The majority are caught in a revolving door consisting of criminalization, temporary shelter and banishment. For them, permanent housing is a longshot at best. Driven into the shadows, out of sight and out of mind, is the strategy of choice for the City of Los Angeles. Ultimately, it’s a failed strategy because there is no way to hide tens of thousands of people whose homes are currently in public space.

This will only get meaner and more violent unless the current trajectory is disrupted…and it will be disrupted! This “Dirty Divide” can’t be allowed to stand. Deciding who can stay or go based on appearance is apartheid. Discrimination based on social status is apartheid.

The underperformance of Proposition HHH, the $1.2 billion homeless housing measure to add 10,000 supportive units for vulnerable Angelenos that is widely predicted to fall far short of its goal, highlights the ineffectiveness of the homeless services system in Los Angeles.

Strategies based on criminalization that create barriers to unhoused people — predominantly people of color with an alarming and growing number of them women — have failed. It’s time for a new playbook to deal with L.A.’s housing crisis.

The mayor and city council need to “Tear down these fences!”.
x x x x 

 

Filed Under: #right2rest, #StopTheSweeps, Los Angeles Community Action Network, WRAP Members

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Footer

Instagram Feed

Nationally, evictions from public housing have sur Nationally, evictions from public housing have surged since late 2021, when the federal government lifted an eviction moratorium put in place to protect renters during the pandemic, according to Peter Hepburn, associate director of Princeton University’s Eviction Lab.  https://conta.cc/3WJco9B
WRAP members and allies always tell us the vital i WRAP members and allies always tell us the vital importance of feeling connected to each other- sharing stories from our own communities, learning from past campaigns, and having artwork that we can share (and wear!) that affirms the life-saving message that we are in this together - we are not alone! 
https://conta.cc/3Wfb5Pw
Join the Coalition On Homelessness San Francisco T Join the Coalition On Homelessness San Francisco Thursday May 11 at 12 noon steps of City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
We are thrilled to announce that yesterday the fin We are thrilled to announce that yesterday the final two Aloft residents, Juilo and Alberto who we asked for the community’s support in advocating for, got a commitment from the State for housing vouchers and the City agreed to bridge them in a hotel like everyone else!! This means that NO Aloft resident was kicked to the shelters or streets due to the closure!! This is a huge testament to what is possible when everyone comes together toward a housing goal and puts their resources toward housing! 
https://conta.cc/3LYOumD
Instagram post 17977559687207330 Instagram post 17977559687207330
Of course, in a time when the poor people are demo Of course, in a time when the poor people are demonized for being poor and homeless people are increasingly seen more as something to fear rather than human beings, it’s unfortunately not all that surprising.
https://conta.cc/3HxZpkV
https://conta.cc/3HwGcQq
We are thrilled to announce that yesterday the fin We are thrilled to announce that yesterday the final two Aloft residents, Juilo and Alberto who we asked for the community’s support in advocating for, got a commitment from the State for housing vouchers and the City agreed to bridge them in a hotel like everyone else!! This means that NO Aloft resident was kicked to the shelters or streets due to the closure!! This is a huge testament to what is possible when everyone comes together toward a housing goal and puts their resources toward housing! 
https://conta.cc/3HsVsOn
Unhoused people are most often prosecuted for "cri Unhoused people are most often prosecuted for "crimes of survival," like sitting, lying down, or sleeping in public space. In order to protect people from discriminatory enforcement of laws that were created deny people their right to exist where they happen to live The Right To Rest Act was created in 2015 and is still being fought for today!!!! 
The Right 2 Rest Act did not meet the threshold to be voted out of committee this term, but this informational hearing will ensure legislators know this bill is necessary to protect our human rights to public space! 
https://conta.cc/3KSclTn
Join us to discuss the specifics of the Right to R Join us to discuss the specifics of the Right to Rest Act, HB3501:  What it is, why we need it and how we make it happen in Oregon.  https://conta.cc/3ZOeMvA
WRAP Round Up & Job Announcement. Hello amazing en WRAP Round Up & Job Announcement.
Hello amazing endorsers and coalition members! First off, thank you for all of your enduring support for the Right to Rest Act. This legislative session is confusing and convoluted, and your faith in the positive impact of this bill makes the struggle worth it. 

We face numerous obstacles such as a delayed bill number and committee assignment, as well as losing a couple co-sponsors from 2021. However, Rep. Chaichi (Chief Sponsor) and Rep. Pham (Co-Sponsor) continue to move this bill forward and advocate on our behalf. 
https://conta.cc/3zl8SHO
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Facebook Icon

Facebook Feed

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
Link thumbnail

And the hits (sweeps) just keep on coming!!!

web-extract.constantcontact.com

Nationally, evictions from public housing have surged since late 2021, when the federal government lifted an eviction moratorium put in plac...
4 days ago
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • Likes: 3
  • Shares: 4
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Twitter Icon

Twitter Feed

Unable to load Tweets

Follow

YouTube icon

Youtube Code

Our Channel

Copyright © 2023 Western Regional Advocacy Project WRAP · Log in