Shots from the LA Grand hotel, where unhoused tenants spoke out about housing injustice and subhuman treatment inside the Project Roomkey (PRK) site. As PRK “demobilizes” in LA, the Grand has become a catch-all for hundreds of tenants evicted from other sites and/or banished with 41.18.
Alex Villanueva used one of our unhoused members in a photo op for twitter, promising a “five star hotel” if they’d give up their tent under threat of arrest. At the Grand, our comrade found himself in a dirty room with no key, no path to housing, and invasive room checks.
There is zero #harmreduction training or policy in PRK sites. People who use drugs are put at risk when forced into dark places to use alone, stigmatized and abandoned. Tenants of PRK with medical or accessibility needs are not provided with adequate support, leading to adverse health outcomes. Folks are evicted from the LA grand were camping near the hotel until @kdeleoncd14 and LAPD enforced the hotel’s 41.18 “no sit lie sleep” zone and threatened arrest to any unhoused folks continuing to stay in the area. Tents, trailers, and necessary belongings were trashed during this banishment.
LA Grand owner Shenzhen New World Group was found guilty on federal corruption charges for bribing councilmember Jose Huizar to build big luxury towers in downtown and earlier this year PRK tenants at the nearby Mayfair hotel were evicted and now that hotel’s on the market. The nearby Gehry Grand development got $200mil of public funding. We also funded downtown hotels to a tune of $1bil. The folks getting “handouts” are the police and corporate real estate powers who get luxury projects financed with millions of our tax dollars. Hotel owners stayed afloat with public money for project roomkey the past 2 years and now theyre ready to cash out, with zero concerns for the humans they are harming.
Rest in Power Malo💔
#housekeysnothandcuffs#servicesnotsweeps#defundthepolice
#PHIMBY
#projectroomkey
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.