LA promised housing for residents of tent city but dramatically failed, report reveals

Their analysis, co-authored by former park residents, concluded that although some displaced residents were eager to get indoors, the temporary shelters they initially landed in had strict regulations that stripped people of basic freedoms and caused many to leave or be kicked out. People who lasted in the temporary programs said they had been unable to transition to long-term housing as officials had promised, the researchers found. Ultimately, one year after the eviction, many were back on the streets, often living in worse conditions than they did before.

Like other encampments across LA, the unhoused community at Echo Park, a 29-acre (11-hectare) city park near downtown known for its majestic fountain and swan boats, grew significantly during the pandemic as sweeps were paused.

Queen said she became unhoused after facing large medical expenses from a car accident in 2019. She felt protected at the Echo Park encampment, she said, which had hundreds of campers and had a community kitchen and garden, a job program, and showers. The park regularly drew volunteers who dropped off hygiene supplies, meals and other resources.

Life at the camp brought the hardships that come with sleeping outside, including conflicts, struggles with mental illness and addiction. But to Queen and others, the site provided safety and resources hard to find elsewhere.

The UCLA researchers could locate only four people in housing, two of whom are Queen and Segura. The couple said they were only able to secure an apartment because Queen got hired at a housing nonprofit group after her activism at the encampment. Six people have died, the researchers found.

The majority of Echo Park campers who were placed ended up at facilities run through Project Roomkey, a state program launched at the start of the pandemic to get motel rooms for unhoused people and overseen by Lahsa in LA. Although residents said they were initially thrilled to have a private room indoors, once they entered, they found strict rules and curfews controlling when they could come and go, and regulations banning visitors, which isolated them from their communities and families. The rules made it hard for people to get back on their feet and continue their jobs or find work, leading some to get kicked out while others chose to return to the streets.

Some who have lasted at Roomkey and subsequently received housing vouchers, which partially subsidize rents for very low-income people, said they were unable to find landlords that will take them.

Donald Smith, a 37-year-old veteran, became unhoused after losing his job at a restaurant at the start of the pandemic. He moved to Echo Park because he had friends there and said it felt safer than any other encampment.

Smith is now back outside, camping with two unhoused friends inside a makeshift structure in a vacant lot, about a mile from downtown.