Housing
More than a year after what was touted to be a historic and forward-thinking move toward reducing homelessness, Inside Safe has been a mixed bag at best and continues to be a lightning rod for controversy. Since its signing, the plan has seen criticisms regarding transparency, accusations of unhygienic conditions, and even a battle over audits with City Controller Kenneth Mejia.
In December 2022, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed two executive directives. The first directive declared a citywide state of emergency. Days later, an executive directive detailed orders for hundreds of millions of dollars to “bring people inside from tents and encampments for good, and to prevent encampments from returning.” Since then, Inside Safe has been able to secure interim housing for only 2,153 people, and Inside Safe’s most recent numbers state that 402 people have been put into what the city defines as permanent housing.
Issues from Day One
The first Inside Safe operation took place over three days in December 2022 on Cahuenga Boulevard, underneath the 101 freeway. It took three days and provided interim housing for about 11 people.
Already on day one, there were issues. One resident was skeptical of what he called “transitional housing,” telling Knock LA that he’d already been through this. Sanitation workers threw a mobility scooter in the trash; Knock LA was not able to track down who it belonged to. Several unhoused people from nearby arrived and asked for housing but were told only residents of that encampment would be accepted. One was merely handed a business card. During the operation, several LAPD officers told nearby unhoused people they should show up at the Cahuenga encampment for hotel rooms.
By March 2024, several residents were back, and the encampment once again had more than a dozen residents. Historic high levels of rain and flash floods had left at least one man living there with a foot with cracking skin and a rash. During one rainstorm, Knock LA asked residents if they’d been approached with emergency shelter options, but none of the encampment residents that spoke to Knock LA had seen anyone offer it.
According to Clara Carter of the mayor’s office, “outreach had been ongoing in that area but was not conducted by Inside Safe staff during the early February storms — there may have been LAHSA outreach.” Carter also mentioned that at least two staying at the encampment on Cahuenga “were known to have been exited from interim housing programs including Inside Safe.”
Questionable Housing Options and Limited Success
Executive directive 6, signed by Bass in November 2023, allowed the city to begin using some motels and hotels subject to the residential hotel ordinance for interim housing and shelter. Rooms that had already been intended to be used as low-cost housing for those in need were now being used for Inside Safe. Prior to that, many rooms had been unlawfully rented for daily rates by hotel owners. The Los Angeles Housing Department is currently conducting an evaluation of the hotel ordinance that is expected to be completed this year, according to Carter.
Some Inside Safe participants were taken to the Las Palmas Hotel, perhaps most famous for being the filming site for the final scene in Pretty Woman. The hotel had been accused of housing ordinance violations in the past.
Another motel used for Inside Safe was declared a “public nuisance” in 2018, according to a report from LA Taco. According to the report, the hotel had previously been accused of being a hotbed for illegal activities and had been charging rates by the hour. According to LA Taco, there were at least 25 calls to LAPD for service over just three years. Those staying there were offered to move to a different motel.
In 2023, LAHSA (Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority) announced 10.5% of Inside Safe’s participants were no longer in the program. Six had died, according to the mayor. Four were placed in medical or mental health treatment. Three were incarcerated. Knock LA tracked down multiple people who were former participants in Inside Safe. Several stated they’d been booted from the program and ended up back at the Cahuenga location. One man said he was struggling with emotional distress issues, and because of it, they [the program] “were hunting for me to kick me out. …I don’t have much, but I can’t live with [the restrictions].”
A coalition called Inside Starving, made up of participants in Inside Safe, advocates for the unhoused, and community organizations, has made accusations that hotel rooms have been unhygienic and those managing the rooms were overly controlling. They cited issues like a 10 PM curfew and the fact that food was provided at irregular intervals. Inside Starving described several hotel rooms as having pest issues including bedbugs. One former Inside Safe participant described waking up with blistered legs.
Though residents who joined the program as a result of the first Inside Safe operation on Cahuenga Boulevard were told they could keep their pets, an Inside Safe agreement document expressly forbids all but service and assistance animals. Additionally, Inside Safe participants are not allowed to use their hotel room as a mailing address. “Program Operators,” reserve the right to enter rooms to “make repairs, perform maintenance, conduct routine or enhanced cleaning, or conduct health screenings.” Residents, many of whom have been living on the street in dangerous and chaotic living conditions for years, are told in their agreement they “are expected to keep your room neat and orderly.” A template for a 30-day notice of termination lists violating these procedures as a potential reason for removal from the motels.
Why and how encampments are chosen for Inside Safe is opaque at best; no official information regarding the processes and procedures has been released to the public. Some have claimed the sites have been chosen largely as a response to complaints about camps from housed neighbors.
The third Inside Safe operation on Cahuenga took place in early March, several days before the Academy Awards. A swath of city employees arrived, including LAPD officers, sanitation workers, representatives from Council District 4, and representatives from the Mayor’s office. Also present were members of LAHSA.
Between Hope and Skepticism
The mayor had previously promised to keep LAPD involvement to a minimum, saying at Inside Safe’s inception that “This is not about cleaning up and clearing out. Of course, that will happen in the context of it, but this is about outreach to people and getting them housed.” But Knock LA viewed one man who was being forced away from the camp while city workers prepared to remove tents and belongings from the underpass. Though many of those belongings had been left behind by people entering Inside Safe, some were not present for the offer or elected not to accept it. Knock LA reporters saw an LAPD officer putting the belongings of an encampment resident named Rumple into a garbage bag. LAPD was insisting the man leave in a contentious exchange. A caseworker eventually walked the man away.
Though some stated they’d return to the camp after the operation, the fence would make erecting a tent impossible. Knock LA has been unable to track down any former residents of the camp. One man who elected to remain anonymous told Knock LA that “the place is like a magnet; there will be tents up by tonight.” One resident of the camp in a heated exchange with a Council District 4 staffer told him that there were people who were incarcerated or at work and with no notice they’d lose their belongings.
After the Inside Safe operation, a metal fence was erected on the sidewalk underneath the overpass. A representative of the mayor’s office has stated that the fence was there because “work is going to be done including lighting improvements.”
Many of those involved in Inside Safe do view the motel rooms provided as a significant step up. A married couple who have spent the last eight years homeless described their relief about no longer living among the danger of the street. Kay, one half of the couple, said that living on the street was “unsafe; that’s for sure. It’s painful, the way you’re treated. The annoyances of [housed neighbors], no general human respect. Physical, mentally, emotionally it’s breaking. But this hopefully will be strengthening.” The two were on their way to the Grand Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Kay’s husband, Chris, had a large scar, which he says he received saving his wife from a knife attack.
Chris, Kay, and other Inside Safe participants waited for an LADOT bus. Most seemed hopeful, and were awaiting transportation to the Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Formerly the site of Project Roomkey, the city is due to close operations on July 1 for Inside Safe residents. Many of them seemed grateful for the respite from homelessness. A few said they’d turned down an offer for a motel room, citing skepticism of city programs born from previous stints or hearing negative opinions from people who’d left city programs.
There were no motel rooms available closer to the encampment than the Grand Hotel, according to Carter of the mayor’s office. In an email, she stated that “The Mayor believes it is unconscionable to leave people to die on the streets especially when there are rooms available in another location. Inside Safe is a voluntary program.”
Continued Controversy
U.S. District Court Judge David Carter has stated that he wants an audit of how Los Angeles spends its funds on homelessness. Carter is overseeing a case brought by the LA Alliance for Human Rights, which states there have been missed deadlines on a settlement agreement to shelter at least 60% of those living on the streets. LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia has also shared concerns regarding transparency of funds; he’s stated his office plans to audit Inside Safe specifically.
Bass’ office has stated that Mejia does not have the authority to do the focused audit. According to the city charter, “the Controller also prepares the official financial reports for the City and is responsible for financial and performance audits of all City Departments and programs.” Some city officials contend that because the program is an initiative of the mayor’s office, the program is not subject to the Controller’s audits.
What is known about the numbers for Inside Safe is disappointing, even by the mayor’s admission. Of the 46,000 unhoused people in the 2023 homeless count, 402 — less than 1% — have been “permanently housed” through Inside Safe, according to the mayor’s office. Only 2,153 have been housed temporarily, and many have returned to the streets since. The mayor’s office told Knock LA that as of mid-February, it had spent $53.7 million on the program. Even if all of those housed temporarily and permanently stayed in the program since its inception, that would be nearly $21,000 per Inside Safe participant and averages $1,500 per person per month. Without more transparency, it’s impossible to know the full scope, cost, and effectiveness of Inside Safe.
The mayor’s office claims that 21,000 people have been housed temporarily and 5,000 have found permanent housing through a combination of Inside Safe and other programs since December 2022.
If the program seems to be failing to house more than 1 in 10 participants, it’s difficult to say Inside Safe hasn’t fallen short. Clara Carter — likely with good reason — told Knock LA that it’s cheaper to house people than to leave them on the street and claimed these numbers inform the approach of Inside Safe. She compares Inside Safe expenditures to a different city expenditure for the unhoused: The Los Angeles Fire Department spent $125 million on emergency responses for the unhoused last year.
It’s clear that the city has floundered for years in its ability to get those without homes underneath a roof. While Inside Safe has strong critics, many advocates for the unhoused concede Inside Safe is a better option than the even more controversial 41.18 — a city ordinance that passed among numerous protests and appears to be even less successful than it is popular. LAHSA has admitted that hurried cleanings under 41.18 may in fact be destroying relationships between outreach workers and the unhoused. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath (chair of the commission which runs LAHSA) even called 41.18 “a failed policy that has only made the homelessness crisis worse.” While Inside Safe is an improvement, in a city where six homeless people die a day, nearly any program won’t move fast enough.