Mayor Karen Bass deployed her Inside Safe initiative at the end of 2022 claiming she wants to fix the long-standing homelessness problem in Los Angeles. She’s got her sights set on the Olympics and the World Cup that will bring billions of dollars in investment and tourism to the businesses of the area. This program gives priority to breaking up the biggest and oldest homeless communities; bringing police to destroy people’s property and arrest those who resist, and funneling people into LAHSA’s network of private service providers.
THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE
- Only 22% of over 2,500 victims of Inside Safe have gotten real housing
- Over 50% of them languish in inadequate private temporary housing
- The average wait for permanent housing is 288 days
- 20.5% have been thrown back on the street
So what is it like living in these temporary shelters?
Dare to Struggle SoCal has been working in Skid Row since March, asking people in the neighborhood about the problems they’re facing and how we can unite to demand changes from the people in power. On June 1 we held a protest at Union Rescue Mission in response to the stories we’ve heard about abusive and neglectful staff, unsanitary conditions, and thefts committed against residents. Locals took the microphone to speak about barely edible food, constantly getting sick, and being treated with neglect and contempt by the people whose job it is to help them. We demanded that the Mayor, instead of cutting the budget to homeless services, clean up these shelters and get people into real homes now! But it’s clear that one protest isn’t enough to solve these problems.
“They’re not doing anything about the drugs because the drugs kill people, and when you get the drugs to kill the people you don’t like, why would you mess with them? So you don’t mess with the drugs. You leave the drugs out here to kill everybody and continue to come out and screw with them in other ways”
– Skid Row man surveyed by Dare to Struggle
The formation of Skid Row Stands Up
After another month of discussions and planning with some of the friends we’ve made, we’re proud to announce the formation of Skid Row Stands Up, an organization of the homeless for the homeless to investigate and expose the criminal conditions people are forced to live under, and take collective action to reclaim our dignity as equal human beings.
Rounding up the homeless only to confine and mistreat them then throw them back on the street is a crime that demands justice by any means necessary. People who are dealing with the same things need to know they’re not alone, and people who are housed need to be shown how their country really works.
To that end Dare to Struggle and Skid Row Stands Up have started taking surveys all around Skid Row to learn more about the conditions people are forced to live under. In our first round of surveys we heard about filthy bathrooms smeared in feces in the La Jolla Hotel and water that gave one woman a bacterial infection. We heard about roaches and bedbugs inside the Lyndon Hotel. People who weren’t currently living in shelters told us about mold in places they previously stayed that was never addressed.
We’ve heard over and over about shelter staff stealing donations intended for the residents. Multiple people have told us about drug dealing and violence inside the shelters, despite constant camera surveillance. So these “shelters” aren’t even solving the problems that homeless people face, they’re just controlling and isolating people and containing the problems indoors, where tourists and professionals can’t see. And yet LAHSA paid $388 million in fiscal year 2022 for the interim housing offered by these “service providers.” This is why we say these so-called “charities” are nothing but poverty pimps!
These aren’t individual problems that can be solved by filling out the right forms or even with lawsuits. They’re a symptom of a system where only money talks. If you can’t afford a place to live, the Mayor expects you to endure filth, vermin, disease, and violence while you wait calmly for a handout. At least 36 people have died in Inside Safe, and at least 898 homeless people died in 2023. We can’t afford to wait. If we get together and refuse to stay patient with the “proper channels,” we can force the city to clean up their act.
Are you in?
Join up with Skid Row Stands Up and Dare to Struggle as we interview your neighbors, spread these bulletins, and take action.
- Alert us if you’re warned about a sweep so we can show up to record the police and intervene against them
- SEND EVIDENCE any videos, photos, and written testimony you can to daretostrugglesocal@tutamail.com
- Come to our MASS MEETINGS Saturdays 2pm in Gladys Park
“They’re not doing anything about the drugs because the drugs kill people, and when you get the drugs to kill the people you don’t like, why would you mess with them? So you don’t mess with the drugs. You leave the drugs out here to kill everybody and continue to come out and screw with them in other ways”
– Skid Row man surveyed by Dare to Struggle
Dare to Struggle 