NBC Los Angeles:
LAPD sources, who asked not to be named for fear of losing their jobs, told the I-Team there are several key reasons for the exponential growth of homeless encampments during the pandemic.
Since the pandemic began, hundreds of new homeless encampments have been popping up — on the sands of Venice Beach, on medians along LA’s boulevards, and on the edges of golf courses.
This is all happening despite promises from LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and from county officials back in April to get a lot of people off the streets and into housing to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“It’s a failure of the local government to address homelessness like they said they were going to,” Allan Parsons, a Venice resident who rides his bike past new encampments in his area everyday, said.
The I-Team met up with Parsons at a new encampment across from world famous Gold’s Gym Venice, where two homeless women were wading in a pool set up next to a group of tents. He pointed out new encampments across Venice. In front of the Penmar Golf Course, a year ago there were just a handful of tents. Today, that encampment spans nearly the entire one-mile length of the course.
“Since the pandemic began, the number of tents has grown and also the size of encampments,” said Parsons, a software engineer for a major corporation.
