LAPD Gave Them 30 Minutes to Leave Everything Behind

They built a community to survive. A kitchen, living spaces, and a place where people could feel safe. As one woman shared, “We keep each other safe… I created a safe place to be.”

Many people here are living with trauma, grief, and mental illness. Some lost family. Some lost everything. Others simply couldn’t afford rent in Los Angeles.

They were told housing and hotel placements were coming through Mayor Bass’ Inside Safe program on November 17. Then LAPD and Caltrans showed up.

“They’re giving us 30 minutes to get what we can… once we leave here, we can’t come back.”

There is not enough housing available. People were forced to choose what to carry and what to leave behind. Everything else gets lost or thrown away. They are told to move, then told to move again, with no clear direction and no real solution.

“They still didn’t offer me housing… I still have nowhere to go.”

This is what a homeless sweep actually looks like.

Politicians say services are offered, but when there aren’t enough shelter beds or housing, people are simply displaced. Pushed from one neighborhood to another. Harder to find. Harder to help.

“We constantly ask… where do we go next? They give us no answer and no solutions.”

This community wasn’t bothering anyone. They were trying to survive.

Five months after this sweep, the people from this encampment have been displaced multiple times. None have been housed.

Criminalization is not a solution. It doesn’t reduce homelessness. It moves it. It makes it worse. It wastes taxpayer money and traumatizes people who are already struggling to survive.

“If you were to give me an opportunity to get housing, I would take it… we don’t want to stay out here.”

We need real solutions. Housing with support services.

This is happening across the country. Share this video and push for real solutions to homelessness.