homelessness

City officials in Oakland approved a contentious new policy that will prohibit homeless people from setting up tents in parks or near homes, businesses, schools and some churches in the city.

Just this week, a tent on the world-famous Venice Boardwalk was on fire at 9 a.m. while surfers and tourists strolled by.

The anonymous 19-year-old dons a Batman costume to bring food and clothes to his unhoused neighbors — and he’s already inspiring others to follow suit.

The Los Angeles region was awarded tens of millions of dollars Monday by the state of California’s Homekey project to help keep people from living on the street.

Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilman Herb Wesson Thursday celebrated the opening of the “#SheDoes Haven,” A Bridge Home shelter in the Angelus Vista neighborhood that will provide 15 beds for homeless women in the area.

Two Bay Area communities are among the first round of recipients in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $600 million Homekey project that converts hotels and motels into permanent housing for the homeless population, the governor announced Wednesday.

Advocates estimate 20 million Americans spend more than 30% of income on rent and are likely to experience homelessness. They predict numbers will rise during the pandemic.

The price tag for some of Los Angeles’ housing for the homeless is expected to hit a whopping $746,000 per unit, far more than the cost of building some luxury high rise condos in downtown. That’s according to an audit to be released Wednesday morning by Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin, which was obtained by the NBC4 I-Team....

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...

Encampments in Los Angeles have highlighted the problem of homelessness in the region, but a federal mandate requires the city of LA clear underpasses. Under the 134 Freeway on Vineland, the area and sidewalk used to be crowded with tents. The only thing left as of Tuesday was a hand-washing station. The station is in fact working, with plenty of…

City Attorney Mike Feuer announced Tuesday that his office won two cases related to the establishment of homeless shelters in Los Angeles. The California Supreme Court denied the petition for review filed by the Venice Stakeholders Association against the Pacific Sunset A Bridge Home Shelter, Feuer said. Los Angeles also prevailed against all the causes of action filed against it…

A homeless man who risked his life to save the life of a D.C. police officer was reunited with his family this week after they spotted him on TV. They hadn’t seen him in eight years and had thought he was dead.  John Burrows jumped into action when he saw another homeless man attacking a police officer in downtown...

If it takes a village to help local homeless veterans, that village has definitely stepped forward. A tent city of sorts has been set up on the campus of the Veteran’s Administration in West Los Angeles, and it is getting a boost from a nonprofit.  Forty-one homeless veterans live in their tents in two parking lots on the VA...

Cerritos College has opened what’s billed as the state’s first community college housing development exclusively for students facing homelessness. “Our goal with The Village is to provide a safe haven to students who are housing insecure until they graduate and transition into their own self-supported space,” Cerritos College President/Superintendent Jose Fierro said. “When students don’t have to worry about...

Even before the coronavirus devastated the economy, the Southland’s homeless population had already grown significantly from the previous year, with efforts to provide housing again outpaced by the number of people falling into homelessness, according to figures released Friday. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the homeless count conducted in January found that the county’s homeless population...

A homeless man who lives in a tent in Echo Park is suing a dog rescue organization that he says wrongfully took his longtime canine companion earlier this year and falsely claimed he abandoned the animal. Elliot Haas’ Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges theft, trespass and intentional infliction of emotional distress in the suit filed Friday against Little Love…

A choir made up of members of San Diego’s homeless community took the stage Tuesday on the premiere of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and wowed the judges not only with their performance, but with their stories. “I didn’t learn to read until I was 15. I graduated high school at a 3rd grade reading level,” said Minta Taylor, a...

Years ago, students at the University of Southern California decided they wanted to help homeless college students, so they opened up a place for them to live in Koreatown called Trojan Shelter. It’s a legacy left behind by some of this year’s graduates that will help homeless students trying to survive. While it’s difficult to quantify just how many...

Four out of five of Skid Row’s large homeless shelters now have clusters of people who have tested positive for COVID-19, the NBC4 I-Team has learned. The virus has also hit several homeless facilities outside Los Angeles’ Skid Row. The latest cluster of cases identified is at downtown’s LA Mission, where 14 residents tested positive, and now have been moved...

The federal judge presiding over a lawsuit seeking to house thousands of people in danger of contracting COVID-19 while living on the streets of downtown Los Angeles has set a hearing Thursday to begin settlement negotiations in the case. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter requested that the parties in the suit — brought by LA Alliance for Human Rights…

A homeless man apparently entered a vacant Ritz-Carlton hotel room in downtown Los Angeles Friday in protest, demanding that the hotel and city allow unhoused Angelenos to stay in its empty rooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Democratic Socialists of America staged a protest Friday afternoon outside the Ritz-Carlton’s downtown location, at 900 W. Olympic Blvd., demanding that Mayor Eric Garcetti…

A judge Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order directing the city of Norwalk to comply with state and Los Angeles County efforts to temporarily place homeless people considered vulnerable to the coronavirus in a specified motel. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Samantha Jessner, who issued her ruling a day after hearing arguments in the case, said that on balance, the…

Dozens of homeless people seeking shelter during this pandemic are now back on the streets. A local group, #HotelVouchers4All, was using a GoFundMe page to raise money to temporarily house about 30 homeless people at the Heritage Inn during the coronavirus pandemic. But Saturday they were kicked out after GoFundMe froze #HotelVouchers4All’s funds. Shane Mitchell is one of them....

The deadly coronavirus is now spreading faster through Los Angeles’ homeless population, outreach workers tell the NBC4 I-Team. Sources say at least 23 more homeless people have tested positive for COVID-19, with fears an explosion of cases is not far behind. “Nothing has changed on Skid Row. There’s no social distancing,” said Estela Lopez, who represents business owners in the…

A federal judge granted a request Tuesday to stop Los Angeles police and sanitation workers from seizing and tossing out items belonging to homeless people based on an object’s size. In granting a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee barred the city from enforcing an ordinance that bans people from keeping large items — those that cannot fit...

The United Health Foundation has pledged $1 million to provide urgent assistance to Los Angeles County residents experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced on Friday. The partnership with the California Community Foundation’s COVID-19 LA County Response Fund is part of UnitedHealth Group’s previously announced initial $50 million commitment to fight COVID-19 and support those most directly impacted, including...

A Pacific Palisades woman filed court papers Tuesday seeking to stop the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County from using the Pacific Palisades Recreation Center as a homeless shelter, saying the decision could increase the number of COVID-19 infections. Susie Forte Gilman maintains in her still-unofficial Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that putting the homeless in the center,…

The city of Los Angeles has reported to a federal judge it is making progress in expanding emergency shelter programs for those experiencing homelessness, who public health experts warn may be at greatest risk for exposure to the coronavirus.

Activists who have long called for a ban on new county jail cells are set to rally downtown Tuesday in support of a proposed “care first, jails last” county plan to put fewer people behind bars and invest in more community-based treatment. Los Angeles County Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Mark Ridley-Thomas met with reporters Monday to preview a motion to…

The mayors of California’s biggest cities had a “robust” discussion with Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday, highlighting their opposition to his plan on how to spend $750 million to combat the state’s homelessness crisis.

They often don’t have places to wash their hands, struggle with health problems and crowd together in grimy camps. That’s what makes homeless people particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus. Almost 200,000 people live in those conditions in the United States, according to a White House report, with Washington state, California and Oregon among the states most affected by homelessness...

“We can’t watch you die.” Those were the last words Ben Shirley said his friends told him when they left him on the stairs outside the Midnight Mission in 2012. He stumbled through the door of the Los Angeles nonprofit just as one of the workers was finishing his shift. “For some reason, he saw this animal in front of…

Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell introduced a motion Friday to have 60 temporary shelter beds delivered to Echo Park Lake by early spring and to provide storage facilities and other assistance to the park’s homeless population. “This crisis is a call to action for all Angelenos,” O’Farrell said. “As we address this urgent priority to find safe, temporary...

A 40-bed, pet-friendly homeless shelter with showers, laundry, health care specialists, casework services, community rooms and 24-hour security opened Monday in a formerly vacant building in San Pedro. The building is in the 100 block of West Eighth Street, near South Harbor Boulevard, and was formerly the Los Angeles County Public Health Clinic. It was turned into a homeless shelter…

The number of homeless women in downtown Los Angeles who reported being raped has risen in each of the last 3 years, and few of those cases have led to arrests, according to LAPD crime report data. Officers in the Central Area, which includes Skid Row, recorded rape cases that listed 59 women experiencing homelessness as victims in 2019. There…

A transitional housing program for mothers experiencing homelessness has opened in San Francisco’s Bayview district, and its part of Mayor London Breed’s efforts to address homelessness. Jelani House, located in the Bayview, holds 17 private rooms, a living room, community spaces, kitchen, dining area, a deck and a backyard. “Jelani House is more than a facility and more than...

California’s governor is expected to call for better mental health care to help the state’s huge homeless population when he addresses one of the state’s most pressing problems in his second State of the State speech.

At City College of San Francisco, a dozen or so students have formed a community, living off the grid in solar-powered camper vans at the edge of campus, building and maintaining their tiny homes together. Faced with some of the highest rent in the world, some say it’s a financial decision to emerge from school with a small savings, rather...

A sobering fact when it comes to making it in the Bay Area: People living in vehicles is a reality nearly 10,000 people wake up to each and every day, according to recent census data.

Before he was a fitness trainer or appeared on NBC’s hit show “America Ninja Warrior,” Eric Small lived in a van, parking in different places across the San Fernando Valley. “It was one of the craziest times of my life, not knowing where I’m going to sleep, [trying] to find a safe neighborhood to sleep on the side,” he...

In the shadow of Los Angeles’ world-famous Hollywood sign sits the newest LA landmark: piles of uncollected, rat-infested garbage, much of it piling up near homeless encampments. Even though Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged an additional $6 million per year last June to improve trash pick-up around encampments in Hollywood and across the entire city, the problem in some areas appears…

A federal judge rejected Santa Ana’s request Tuesday for an injunction blocking the county and three south Orange County cities from transporting transients to the temporary shelter in the Santa Ana armory. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied the injunction without prejudice, meaning the city could refile the motion, said Paul Eakins, a spokesman for Santa Ana. Orange...

All the runners have dealt with homelessness and currently live at San Diego Rescue Mission.

More than 200 people that had been staying at a homeless encampment in Santa Rosa were forced out Friday, fearing being arrested if they didn’t pick up and go.

A majority of Los Angeles homeless women interviewed in a recent survey reported being victims of some type of violence over the past year, according to a report released Thursday. According to “The Los Angeles Women’s Needs Assessment” survey of 305 homeless women, released by the Downtown Women’s Center, 60.2% of respondents said they had been victimized in the past…

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to create a committee to review ongoing strategies to reduce homelessness countywide and work with agencies to boost state and federal aid for programs aimed at ending chronic homelessness. The 5-0 vote establishes the committee for a period of one year, at which time the panel will be revisited by the board….

Calif. Governor Gavin Newsom joined in San Diego’s annual count of the homeless population on Thursday.

California is asking the Trump administration to provide surplus federal land that could be used to build housing for the homeless, mirroring a new state program. Gov. Gavin Newsom sent the request in a letter Tuesday to U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson amid an ongoing debate over whether Democratic officials in California are doing enough to...

An enforcement operation focused on “quality of life” issues, such as property crime and nuisances, resulted in the arrest of 49 people in Lake Elsinore and Wildomar, sheriff’s officials said Sunday. Suspects were arrested from Jan. 8 through Jan. 17 and were accused ofvarious misdemeanor offenses, including trespassing, possession of drugparaphernalia and public intoxication, according to Riverside County Sheriff’s Department…

A vacant Los Angeles County clinic in San Pedro will be turned into a 24-hour emergency shelter for homeless individuals, many of whom are already camped nearby. Supervisor Janice Hahn recommended adapting the 14,000-square-footbuilding at 122 W. Eighth St. near Beacon Street to accommodate 40 beds for 20 men and 20 women. Operator Harbor Interfaith-San Pedro will offer three meals…

Hospital giant Kaiser Permanente and insurer Blue Shield of California on Friday pledged $45 million to a new state fund aimed at getting people off the streets. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order last week creating what he proposes to be a $750 million fund that could be used to pay rents, subsidize affordable housing or help board and…

Calling California’s homeless crisis a public health issue, hospital giant Kaiser Permanente on Friday pledged $25 million to a new state fund aimed at getting people off the streets.

On any given night, up to 130 homeless people are camping out in the terminals at Los Angeles International Airport, according to an internal LAX document obtained by NBC4’s I-Team. The document says the majority of LAX’s homeless population suffers from mental illness and/or substance abuse and some could be a threat to themselves or to others. Police records...

Gov. Gavin Newsom visited staff and residents at a board and care home in the Harvard Heights section of Los Angeles today on the second day of his weeklong homelessness tour, calling the growing problem “a human crisis.” He stressed the need for the state to take a leadership role in addressing the homelessness issue, while also asserting the need…

Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority officials said Friday that they need more volunteers to sufficiently tally the county’s homeless population.

A transient accused of attacking three people in downtown Los Angeles — including a man who was pushed in front of a moving truck — has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday. Criminal proceedings against Garrett Joseph Boldt, 42, had been suspended since last April while a…

A detective who happened to spot a man living in a Camarillo riverbed managed to not only help him, but helped reunite him with his family.  Deep in the riverbed off Upland and Flynn roads in Camarillo, anyone passing by would never see the encampment made out of banana boxes.   But Ventura County Sheriff Det. Chris Dyer did.  Dyer...

President Donald Trump and local democratic politicians appear to be coming together to address Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis, days after the president tweeted that federal funding may be a possibility.  Despite finger-pointing between democrats and republicans over who’s to blame for LA’s homelessness crisis, the NBCLA I-Team has learned that President Trump’s housing secretary has been in talks this...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that he is seeking $750 million in part to help pay rent for people facing homelessness in the most populous state’s latest attempt to fight what he called a national crisis. Newsom planned to sign an executive order Wednesday creating the fund, two days before he presents his second annual budget proposal to the…

The city’s first permanent supportive housing project for homeless people funded by Proposition HHH has opened at 88th Street and Vermont Avenue, nearly three years after the first housing bonds were issued. The developers are Women Organizing Resources, Knowledge and Services, along with Community Build, and about $9.6 million of the $1.2 billion in Prop. HHH funding was dedicated to the housing project...

With rain lingering in the forecast for a few more days and cool weather likely on tap through the holidays, a series of Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority winter shelters will remain open through 7 a.m. Jan. 2. The shelters are spread throughout the area, and offer food and outreach services for the homeless. The shelters open until 7 a.m….

Backers of an initiative its author says would provide help for homeless individuals and “greatly reduce nuisance behavior on our streets,” have received authorization to begin gathering signatures, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced Saturday. What former Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, has dubbed the “California Compassionate Intervention Act” would treat crimes like defecating on public transportation or using heroin…

The federal government is reporting a 2.7% increase in the nation’s homeless population driven by a spike in California, according to an annual count that took place in January 2019.

A man was found dead outside Los Angeles City Hall early Wednesday, likely the 963rd homeless person to die on the streets of LA County in 2019, officials said. “It really hits home when one of those human beings passes away in front of our workplace,” LA City Attorney Mike Feuer told reporters. Feuer was about to discuss his concerns…

Struggling to keep up with an estimated 150 people who fall into homelessness daily in Los Angeles County, officials announced Monday they will use data-driven models to identify and help individuals who are most likely to end up on the street. The models, developed by the California Policy Lab and the University of Chicago Poverty Lab, used data on Los…

The Supreme Court will not review an appellate decision that makes it harder for cities to keep homeless people from sleeping on the streets. The justices on Monday did not comment as they left in place a ruling that struck down a Boise, Idaho, ordinance. The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applies across several Western states...

Donations to the homeless often include food, clothing or soap, but for many women on Skid Row, feminine hygiene products are a sometimes-forgotten need. “When you don’t have access, you ain’t got nothing,”said Shirley, a homeless woman from Los Angeles. “You have to use the next thing available. It might be some clothes, it could be a towel –...

Los Angeles property owners are starting to pay a steep price the risk of fires that start at nearby homeless encampments in the city.

Angela Sanchez went from poverty to professional, and now, the formerly homeless teenager is writing children’s books designed to break down the stigma of homelessness.

Detectives from the LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division are investigating the apparent murder of a homeless man, whose burned body was found Tuesday morning smoldering in a shopping cart along the bike path at Lake Balboa Park in Van Nuys.

After spending time in jail Joey Weinert was miserable, barely making ends meet, feeding his heroin habit. He’d hit rock bottom. He had a choice. Self destruction or a path to recovery. He learned about a path when he visited his uncle, also a recovering addict, at the Midnight Mission. “My recovery gave me the ability to have a life,”...

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to reinstate a law that prohibits people from sleeping in their vehicles between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. along residential neighborhood streets or within 500 feet of a school.

NBC4 and Telemundo 52 kick off Supporting Our Schools donation drive, July 11-19, with Ralphs and Food 4 Less, to provide homeless students with essential school supplies. To support, donate $1 or more at check-out when shopping at Ralphs and Food 4 Less supermarket.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday he plans to lead a coalition of mayors calling on Congress to pass the Ending Homelessness Act.

The City Council Friday will consider spending millions of dollars on an enhanced homeless-outreach and street-cleanup operation recently touted by the mayor as an effort to combat illegal dumping while provide hygiene services for the homeless.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell called on the state Wednesday to direct $1.2 billion toward the city’s battle against homelessness, matching the amount of a voter-approved municipal bond measure aimed at attacking the problem.

The Los Angeles City Council Friday doled out millions of dollars for various homeless services projects, including a temporary bridge housing facility in San Pedro and improved access to restrooms and showers for people living on Skid Row.

Four Los Angeles councilmen Tuesday proposed a 2020 ballot measure that would allow the city to penalize property owners who leave housing units vacant, which they say contributes to a lack of affordable housing and exacerbates the homelessness problem.

Facing rising criticism for the sharp increase in homelessness, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Tuesday defended the work being done by the city to address the problem while saying he takes “full responsibility” for the city’s response to the issue.

A homeless family-resource hub has opened in the northeast San Fernando Valley, Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez announced Thursday.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies were advising transients in San Clemente Friday that they could no longer camp out at the north beach and could move their tents to a city yard, San Clemente Mayor Pro Tem Dan Bane said.

Attorneys who have sued on behalf of Orange County’s homeless to block enforcement of anti-camping ordinances sent a letter to San Clemente officials Wednesday objecting to a plan to set up a fenced, outdoor camping area in the seaside city and threatening litigation if the plan goes forward.

The five elected officials who govern Los Angeles County today approved $460 million in Measure H spending on homelessness, increasing their commitment to the problem in the face of a widely anticipated rise in the numbers of people without a permanent home.

A newly opened bridge housing site in the Westlake section of Los Angeles is nicknamed “Casa Azul,” or “The Blue House,” after the home, now turned museum, of late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Councilman Gil Cedillo and other dignitaries were on hand Monday for a grand opening event at the 6,300-square-foot facility at 1920...

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to find ways to work more collaboratively with dozens of cities to solve the problem of homelessness.

A federal judge overseeing a lawsuit alleging south Orange County cities have done little to address homeless or obstructed efforts to solve the problem will also consider a newly filed lawsuit alleging the county is illegally using the cost of shelter as “in-kind” income against welfare otherwise available to the transients.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and mayors from a dozen other major cities met with Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders in Sacramento Wednesday to call for more state resources in the 2019 budget for homelessness programs.

Rev. Richard Reed founded the agency “First To Serve” 20 years ago. It has helped thousands of men and women each year get off the streets or referred by partner agencies.

Los Angeles residents say the homeless crisis is making them concerned over the cleanliness and safety of their neighborhoods.

After living in her car for six months, Jill Gutierrez found a temporary home thanks to a pair of San Fernando Valley organizations.

Los Angeles residents say the homeless crisis is making them concerned over the cleanliness and safety of their neighborhoods.

A federal report released Monday provides a possible glimmer of hope for the homeless crisis that has gripped many cities up and down the West Coast.

Mayor Eric Garcetti and other leaders broke ground Friday on a supportive housing community in Exposition Park for homeless veterans and others without a residence.

Orange County Supervisor and District Attorney-elect Todd Spitzer sharply criticized Los Angeles city officials Wednesday, especially Mayor Eric Garcetti, saying it is reckless to allow the homeless to set campfires.

The HOPE Team takes careful steps to protect themselves from a dangerous job surrounded by hypodermic needles, human waste and rats. That’s the worst-case scenario and they prepare for that every day in Los Angeles neighborhoods.

A proposal to spend $20 million on temporary shelters for the homeless throughout Los Angeles has its first potential location in Koreatown, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday.

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti answered questions on a Reddit ‘#AMA’ on Monday, where he answered questions on homelessness, traffic, and even relationship advice.

The USC Price Center for Social Innovation and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles Home for Good Initiative announced Monday the creation of a research institute dedicated to studying and solving homelessness.