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Speaker 1: Previously on Weedian House. Whether you have to get a

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Speaker 1: very clear definition of what crime is. I mean, if

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Speaker 1: someone is living.

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Speaker 2: Outside in their quote making noise, that's not a crime.

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Speaker 1: Sitting down is not a crime, Sleeping is not a crime.

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Speaker 3: Transpassed really just as an extension of what I see

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Speaker 3: has been happening in the community for many years. And

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Speaker 3: to criminalize, you know, sleeping on the street. What it's

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Speaker 3: very clear in a lot of cases is there's nowhere

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Speaker 3: else for people to go is definitely going to take

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Speaker 3: us back to the system that support mass incarceration, that

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Speaker 3: you know, criminalize people who are most marginalized rather than

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Speaker 3: dealing with, you know, why it is that they're in

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Speaker 3: these circumstances.

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Speaker 1: And I just think that it's really unfortunate.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Weedian House. I'm your host, Theo Henderson. First,

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Speaker 2: I want to share some post election thoughts. By now

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Speaker 2: the country, nay of the world has been informed of

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Speaker 2: the Trump presidency, most logically have acts. How bad is

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Speaker 2: it going to be? The unhoused community is no different.

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Speaker 2: Here's something Trump said in April twenty twenty three, ban.

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Speaker 4: Urban camping wherever possible. Violators of these bands will be arrested,

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Speaker 4: but they will be given the option to accept treatment

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Speaker 4: and services if they're willing to be rehabilitated. Many of

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Speaker 4: them don't want that.

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Speaker 2: But will give them the option under a democratic administration.

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Speaker 2: The Grants Pass ruling was handed down by six Supreme

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Speaker 2: Court justices, three of which were hands selected by Trump

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Speaker 2: himself one hundred forty four days past where aggressive laws

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Speaker 2: have been placed in effect to target the unhoused community.

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Speaker 2: How will Trump continue to support this cruel decision?

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Speaker 1: He is more of the same speech.

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Speaker 4: We will then open up large parcels of inexpensive land,

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Speaker 4: bringing doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, and drug rehab specialists, and

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Speaker 4: create ten cities where the homeless can be relocated and

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Speaker 4: their problems identified. But will open up our cities again,

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Speaker 4: make them livable, and make them beautiful.

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Speaker 2: In April twenty twenty four, the Los Angeles City Council

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Speaker 2: approved a ban on overnight parking for vehicles that are

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Speaker 2: more than twenty two feet long or seven feet high

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Speaker 2: on thirty streets across four districts, including Ban Eyes, Arlentin Heights,

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Speaker 2: and Porta Ranch. But ban is in effect from two

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Speaker 2: to five am, and residents can only purchase a three

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Speaker 2: day permit for ten dollars. As we drink in the

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Speaker 2: arduous rolled ahead, we must remember there are punitive laws

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Speaker 2: from when we fall through the cracks. In our last episode,

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Speaker 2: we interviewed candidates for Judge Erker Wiley and George Turner

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Speaker 2: who have successfully been voted in. We must also take

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Speaker 2: our time in understanding the implications. I am an African

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Speaker 2: American male that has had family members in my line

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Speaker 2: that have lost their lives fighting to even be able

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Speaker 2: to register to vote. Then the issue was fought with

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Speaker 2: every fiber of sweat and blood to make sure that

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Speaker 2: this was the right that they could pass on to

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Speaker 2: their descendants. Some of us in circles that contested the

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Speaker 2: election gave short strip to this reality of many African

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Speaker 2: American people. They ridiculed or laughed outright in derision when

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Speaker 2: it's brought up. Understandably, electing people is complex and the

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Speaker 2: issues therein impacts people's lives. However, we must not diminish

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Speaker 2: another race of people to try to hold space for others.

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Speaker 2: We don't have to be anti black to be pro Palestinian.

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Speaker 2: We don't have to be anti black to be pro Ukrainian.

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Speaker 2: We don't have to be anti black at all. I

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Speaker 2: am sorry to say our country is embedded with this

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Speaker 2: anti blackness in all of what we do, from us

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Speaker 2: eating cats and dogs, to us being seen as criminals,

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Speaker 2: for us being seen as anything but good except for

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Speaker 2: our entertainment. There's a saying in the black community that

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Speaker 2: many people want our rhythm, but not our blues. As

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Speaker 2: we move forward and speaking out against the injustices of Palestine,

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Speaker 2: let us remember the Congo, let us remember Sudan. Let

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Speaker 2: us remember every neocolonial state that has taken advantage, especially

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Speaker 2: in the darker continent. We only hear minor discussions on it,

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Speaker 2: yet we see the flags waved of certain communities, only

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Speaker 2: fueling the anti black sentiment. I also want this to

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Speaker 2: be a teachable moment for our unhoused community who did

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Speaker 2: not understand the implications or we're not aware of the

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Speaker 2: gathering noose around one's neck. Especially important if one voted

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Speaker 2: for Trump. Many are now googling how can I change

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Speaker 2: my vote?

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Speaker 1: But it's too late. We're going to reap what we

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Speaker 1: sow in this country.

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Speaker 2: Violence isn't at an uptick with people of color, people

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Speaker 2: in different spaces, and we must do what we need

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Speaker 2: to do to keep safe, to endure for another day,

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Speaker 2: and please take off those damn blue braces. They're not

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Speaker 2: doing anything for us. This episode is going to be

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Speaker 2: about too divergent, but simil the issues rants passed and

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Speaker 2: the consequences of evicting a reclaimer from her home. We'll

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Speaker 2: be right back. Welcome back to Weedian House. Our first

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Speaker 2: interview today. It's with Ruth, a returning guest, who offers

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Speaker 2: new insight on the grants past ruling, among other things

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Speaker 2: within the un housed community, including of course, her own story.

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Speaker 1: Here's our chat. We have two guests.

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Speaker 2: We have a returning guest and we have a new guest,

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Speaker 2: mister Zachary Allison, who is a journalist in his own right.

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Speaker 2: And we have a other correspondent who also does extensive

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Speaker 2: research into matters of city policy regarding to the unhoused community.

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Speaker 2: Ruth Lesser, without further ado, thank you for joining my

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Speaker 2: show and tell us a little bit about yourselves, if

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Speaker 2: you will.

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Speaker 5: Thank you so much for having me. I love being

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Speaker 5: on Median House and working with you. Yeah, I'm Ruth.

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Speaker 5: Basically I tried to document from my iPhone, you know,

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Speaker 5: things that are happening and exposed corruption, like Misspending. I've

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Speaker 5: been unhoused and technically unsheltered in LA continuously since at

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Speaker 5: least twenty seventeen. And I have Zachary Ellison here if

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Speaker 5: he wants to introduce himself.

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Speaker 6: Hell deo, my name is Zachary Ellison.

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Speaker 7: I'm an independent journalist here in Los Angeles and I

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Speaker 7: cover politics, investigations, and media.

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Speaker 2: To start the conversation, I want to begin with a

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Speaker 2: quote from Zora new Hurston and then we can take

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Speaker 2: a conversationally from there. Zora Newhurston was a famous writer.

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Speaker 2: She's mentioning on the xicon of a lot of the

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Speaker 2: struggles that were going on in the earlier twenties and thirties.

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Speaker 2: But one of the quotes that she mentioned, I think

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Speaker 2: it's apropos for today. If you are silent about your pain,

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Speaker 2: they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it. I think

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Speaker 2: this is the overarching thing that with this episode is

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Speaker 2: going to discuss in the landscape of how Mayor Karen

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Speaker 2: Bass is painting her inside starving or her inside safe debacle,

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Speaker 2: as well as the focus on her displacing people that

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Speaker 2: are in RVs. She has savvy, she is cannily and

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Speaker 2: I guess cunningly using two different narratives in order to

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Speaker 2: make it sound like she is moving forward and she

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Speaker 2: is the solution to the problem of houselessness, and if

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Speaker 2: she's doing it in the long gang, in the way

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Speaker 2: of trying to be re elected, the second thing she's

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Speaker 2: doing is she is using sound bites from nimbies, but

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Speaker 2: she's couching it in humanity and empathy when in the

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Speaker 2: reality of it is it's still violent, but it's just

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Speaker 2: sugarcoated with you know, like you know, roses over defecation

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Speaker 2: or excrement. But let me get your take on that,

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Speaker 2: miss Dallison, and then I will ask the same question

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Speaker 2: to Roofe.

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Speaker 7: You know, I think that the Mayor's office has a

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Speaker 7: very determined communications strategy and this is something we see

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Speaker 7: with like most of the council members, like they won't

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Speaker 7: even talk with you.

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Speaker 6: And I think that like they think that they can.

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Speaker 7: Just power through, you know, a human crisis with like

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Speaker 7: what we would call it usc optics, and it's not

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Speaker 7: really working. They're they're spending more money than ever and

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Speaker 7: only getting a little.

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Speaker 6: Bit of results. And then, you know, I think the

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Speaker 6: question of you know, our.

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Speaker 7: People being treated humanly, and you know, particularly we're talking

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Speaker 7: about RVs, you know, towing that is really starting to

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Speaker 7: fill the test here a little.

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Speaker 1: Bit roof what's your take on it?

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Speaker 5: Thank you? Yeah, I agree, and yeah, Jack and I

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Speaker 5: have been trying to find the plaintiff's voices lately in LA,

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Speaker 5: with like the LA Alliance and everything. These things have

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Speaker 5: been on fold and there's just not unhoused people fearing

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Speaker 5: them much less informing them. And sometimes like it's interesting

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Speaker 5: because we can't really be present, like like I can't

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Speaker 5: necessarily leave my house and expected to be here when

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Speaker 5: I come back. So it's been hard to get our

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Speaker 5: voices heard and feel like we're participating in this process.

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Speaker 5: And people take that as like that we don't care,

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Speaker 5: or that we're ambivalent, or that we endorse whatever decision

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Speaker 5: that they come up with, and that's not the case.

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Speaker 5: You know, when people's RVs are getting towed, you know,

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Speaker 5: some of them have lived on the same block, like

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Speaker 5: in houses, you know, and then they couldn't afford their

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Speaker 5: house anymore, or maybe they purchased an RV so they

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Speaker 5: were able to upgrade from a tent during the pandemic

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Speaker 5: because of stimulus and to show them away, Like, I

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Speaker 5: feel like the city has a history of making temporary

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Speaker 5: housing as like a solution for housing crises, Like after

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Speaker 5: World War Two they made like the Roger Young Village

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Speaker 5: in Griffith's Park and it was the first integrated housing

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Speaker 5: for veterans, but it was it had a caveat that

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Speaker 5: it was temporary. So I feel like it robs people

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Speaker 5: of the ability to be able to like invest in

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Speaker 5: a place like anyone else typically can if they've lived

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Speaker 5: there for a certain number of years or anything like,

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Speaker 5: that's their community. But with the unhoused people, we just

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Speaker 5: keep getting shuffled around and that's cruel and I think

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Speaker 5: it goes back to like trying to oppress people, you know,

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Speaker 5: like how can somebody actually succeed or get ahead if

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Speaker 5: they if they have to keep moving and resetting their relationships,

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Speaker 5: their finances. You know, moving is expensive and it takes

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Speaker 5: a long time to get settled back into a new community.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned several interesting points, and I was thinking why

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Speaker 2: you were mentioning these things about the reality of what

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Speaker 2: I'm hearing is the city is running out of funding

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Speaker 2: or they're hitting some snacks in they're trying to sustain it.

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Speaker 2: The larger question is recently I saw some footage where

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Speaker 2: there was conversation was trying to open up housing, affordable

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Speaker 2: housing for displaced people in other places like Westminster, I believe,

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Speaker 2: and the vociferous protests that they had against it is

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Speaker 2: also telling and in many respects, it is the people

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Speaker 2: that are tired of seeing a house or displaced people.

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Speaker 2: They fight tooth and nail when it is time for

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Speaker 2: people to create solutions where they can be housed. They

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Speaker 2: don't want them in their neighborhood. They don't want these

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Speaker 2: very displaced people because of the narratives that are being placed.

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Speaker 2: So where is the solution into doing this unless it's

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Speaker 2: a incarceration, which is what a lot of Nimbis are

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Speaker 2: trying to undercut and say. But they don't want to

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Speaker 2: come out and seem like totally evil. But what's your

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Speaker 2: insight on this, Zach?

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Speaker 7: You know, I think there's there's a lot of tension

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Speaker 7: in the city right now about homelessess policy, and like

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Speaker 7: it's certainly something we see playing out in the LA

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Speaker 7: Alliance hearings that have been going on now for years.

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Speaker 7: In the courtroom of Judge Carter's kind of like we've

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Speaker 7: got to do something, but like, how do we do

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Speaker 7: it right? And then what do we do when we

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Speaker 7: only have limited funding? And you're absolutely right that the

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Speaker 7: city's budget is getting quite on ice, mostly because of LAPD,

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Speaker 7: LAPD's salary and overtime costs and then liability payouts for

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Speaker 7: mis conduct, and whenever you're sweeping people, you're taking a

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Speaker 7: chance with more liability, and like say, like we had

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Speaker 7: a video from Adam Smith of LA CAN the la

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Speaker 7: Community Action Network that showed a police officer running over

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Speaker 7: and unhoused individuals belongings and I sent the video around

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Speaker 7: to all the different.

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Speaker 6: Departments and nobody wanted to comment on it.

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Speaker 7: So I think they think that brutality and abuse is

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Speaker 7: when they shouldn't be happening because simply be swooked under

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Speaker 7: the rug and that's not really healthy and it is

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Speaker 7: not really going to make any of this functional. City

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Speaker 7: clearly has to get better at doing this right now,

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Speaker 7: we're not succeeding, and I think everybody agrees with that,

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Speaker 7: whether you're NIMBA or NB or on housed.

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Speaker 2: I also think it's like it's tacit approval because I

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Speaker 2: have covered sweeps in my time as well, and I

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Speaker 2: noticed that there is this unspoken aggression, it's unspoken approval

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Speaker 2: when they descend upon unhoused people. Or most recently, when

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Speaker 2: I was covering the sweep out in Elmonte, it was

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Speaker 2: the open aggression. Well, if you in any way around

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Speaker 2: on house people, are you stopping the sanitation from destroying

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Speaker 2: their stuff, You're going to jail.

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Speaker 1: You're going to be arrested.

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Speaker 2: And to have those kind of entries where you're interacting

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Speaker 2: with unhoused people and then claiming that you had brought

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Speaker 2: the team that was supposed to help with unhoused people,

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Speaker 2: it's sending that subtle, veiled threat.

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Speaker 1: It's sitting that violence.

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Speaker 2: It's sitting that threat, the specter of violence that the

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Speaker 2: specter of criminalization that is going on that I'm noticing

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Speaker 2: the city is heavily relied on. You made an excellent

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Speaker 2: point about is that we are close to four billion

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Speaker 2: dollars in the police budget. But not only that, we

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Speaker 2: also understand that there are other programs that are feeding

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Speaker 2: also on top of the three or four billion dollars,

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Speaker 2: money's to LAPD like the Library, LA Public Library, other

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Speaker 2: entities that are dealing with on housed and their focus

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Speaker 2: is they pouring money for them to be at the

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Speaker 2: forefront of eliminating, arresting, or removing unhoused people and the

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Speaker 2: areas they are. But they have again, which begs the

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Speaker 2: question about Grant's past. Grant's past has unleashed the beast.

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Speaker 2: I'm set loose on them because they don't have to

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Speaker 2: offer housing, they don't have to offer services. If they

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Speaker 2: say you got to move, you got to move, they

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Speaker 2: can cursory give you a notice. It doesn't have to

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Speaker 2: be a notice, it doesn't have to be forty one

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Speaker 2: to eighteen. Other cities are taking a page from the

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Speaker 2: book from the Supreme Court and just setting themselves up

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Speaker 2: to set themselves upon on house people, Which brings up

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Speaker 2: to what is your feeling on how do they feel

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Speaker 2: about Grant's pass in these city council mediu How does

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Speaker 2: it come up?

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Speaker 5: Well, the Grants has, like we talked about last time,

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Speaker 5: how that came out of downtown Los Angeles, Like the

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Speaker 5: lawyers did. They traveled from Los Angeles to Oregon to

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Speaker 5: go represent the city of Grant's pass to the Supreme Court.

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Speaker 5: They were not from there. So it's interesting that you know,

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Speaker 5: it's okay for lawyers to go to a city that's like,

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Speaker 5: isn't you know their city, right? But like it's not

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Speaker 5: okay for an n house person to move from another state,

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Speaker 5: you know, like people act like if you weren't born

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Speaker 5: in Los Angeles, then you shouldn't be allowed to be

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Speaker 5: homeless here. And pretty much everyone I know that an

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Speaker 5: house has a connection to Los Angeles. You know. I

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Speaker 5: have a friend who was born here in nineteen eighty

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Speaker 5: two and his family just moved to Texas because they

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Speaker 5: had to downsize the couldn't afford it anymore. So he's

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Speaker 5: here in Los Angeles without shelter, and like he doesn't

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Speaker 5: know anywhere else, you know, like he doesn't have another

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Speaker 5: city that he's ever had any connection to. And it's

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Speaker 5: interesting when people act like, you know, this is a

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Speaker 5: problem of others coming here or things like that, and really,

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Speaker 5: like I think I calculated using open LAPD data that

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Speaker 5: there's been more than forty one thousand arrests or forty

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Speaker 5: one eighteen since I think it was twenty ten, And

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Speaker 5: that was without Grant's past. That was when it was

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Speaker 5: still constitutionally questionable, you know, like like there was a

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Speaker 5: chance the Supreme Court might strengthen it, and instead they

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Speaker 5: we in our protections and our civil rights. I think

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Speaker 5: that it's interesting because like a lot of times, forty

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Speaker 5: one eighteen is used to achieve voluntary compliance. I think

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Speaker 5: the only thing they're supposed to be able to arrescue

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Speaker 5: on immediately is if you refuse to exit your tent,

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Speaker 5: which is so messed up on its own, because like,

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Speaker 5: if you are camping in a tent because of a protest,

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Speaker 5: that's protected by the First Amendment. But if you're in

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Speaker 5: a tent because you're poor, like that's not like to

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Speaker 5: me that that should be protected too, especially in the

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Speaker 5: absence of notice and a good reason. Like I think,

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Speaker 5: you know, maybe there are good reasons where like the

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Speaker 5: city has to maybe protect like a power line that's

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Speaker 5: dangerous or something, and they need you to move out

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Speaker 5: of the area so they can do that. The reasons

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Speaker 5: that they use for forty one eighteen closures are not

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Speaker 5: like they don't even have to come up with the reason,

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Speaker 5: and they never do, like occasionally they do, like tree

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Speaker 5: trimming or something, But you know, it's really it's really

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Speaker 5: just about like forcing us to be submissive and have

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Speaker 5: to move and obey, and denying us the right to

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Speaker 5: have ties to a neighborhood. Like I've been in my

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Speaker 5: same neighborhood since at least twenty seventeen continuously, and like

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Speaker 5: I feel like I'm a part of it, Like I

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Speaker 5: am involved in a neighborhood council, you know. But now,

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Speaker 5: like like the neighborhood council that I'm in was advocating

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Speaker 5: for grants past, and they, I guess, like they don't

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Speaker 5: really see me as like a legitimate member of their neighborhood,

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Speaker 5: you know, And like they got rid of their homelessness committee,

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Speaker 5: and I volunteered to take it on because I do

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Speaker 5: a weekly displacement meeting, you know. So I was like, hey,

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Speaker 5: like I can handle a monthly displacement in a local

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Speaker 5: meeting because I already do it every week, and they

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Speaker 5: like decided not to have one. But it's okay because

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Speaker 5: my closest neighborhood council adopted me and they endorsed council

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Speaker 5: files d F nineteen ten twenty. It's about creating a

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Speaker 5: commission on lived Experience of homelessness, and the city was

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Speaker 5: supposed to do it. The motion was introduced in twenty

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Speaker 5: nineteen and voted on in twenty twenty unanimously and it

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Speaker 5: got jammed up like in the CLA I think office,

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Speaker 5: where they they just never moved forward with the next steps,

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Speaker 5: and it was supposed to be in the Civil, Human

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Speaker 5: Rights and Equity Department. I feel like if it doesn't

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Speaker 5: have action taken soon, because it does expire on November eighteenth,

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Speaker 5: that it'll be very hard to get our currency Council

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Speaker 5: to pass another motion or even just to hear another

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Speaker 5: motion like it, because in the last five years, you know,

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Speaker 5: our civil rights have been rolled back so much, and

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Speaker 5: we don't have Mike Bonnen on the council anymore. He

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Speaker 5: was the one who introduced it. We have Tracy Park

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Speaker 5: now and Mark Keith has Dawson is the one who

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Speaker 5: seconded it. He's now our city council president. So I've

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Speaker 5: been talking with his office about bringing it before the council,

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Speaker 5: and I hope they do. I last spoke to them,

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Speaker 5: I think on Friday.

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Speaker 2: You know, one of the things that I have been noticing,

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Speaker 2: and I think it's so important to do, is to

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Speaker 2: take the time to get even even in the movement

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Speaker 2: where people are just dialing into understanding the difference between

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Speaker 2: forty one eighteen and Grant's pass because sometimes what I'm

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Speaker 2: hearing is that it's interchangeable, and it's not. Forty one

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Speaker 2: eighteen was completely different than Grant's passed Forty one eighteen

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Speaker 2: was born out of the Supreme Court Circuit deosition from

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Speaker 2: Mars versus Boise's actions that stated that it was cruel

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Speaker 2: and unusual punishment to penalize unhouse people because they had

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Speaker 2: no place to go. And in order to get around that,

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Speaker 2: Los Angeles particularly utilized forty one eighteen with certain rules

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Speaker 2: and certain steps in order to justify when they displace people.

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Speaker 2: For example, they have to have a sign that you

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Speaker 2: are not permitted to lodge or sit, sleep, or lie

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Speaker 2: at approximately at least at least one hundred feet from school's,

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Speaker 2: maybe hospitals or places that they consider a sensitive area. Now,

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Speaker 2: with that in mind, they also have they follow up

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Speaker 2: in order to duck them being violent against dunhouse people.

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Speaker 2: Is that they will offer it doesn't mean you have

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Speaker 2: to accept it. They offer shelter, Now that may be

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Speaker 2: a shelter that's over capacity. At least they offer it.

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Speaker 2: They will drive you there. You go in there and

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Speaker 2: there's no room in there. You're on your own. You're

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Speaker 2: just out of the way what they want, what they

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Speaker 2: wanted to do. They did that in Little Tokyo a

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Speaker 2: few years ago, and they would literally deposit unhoused people

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Speaker 2: and they actually did it also when they occupied Echo Park,

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Speaker 2: when they started dumping unhoused people out there and Pomona

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Speaker 2: and the other places, saying that they had services, they

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Speaker 2: had offered it, and.

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Speaker 1: It basically was a lie.

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Speaker 2: It was just a goal to remove them from the

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Speaker 2: area that they wanted to be removed. Now with Grant's pass,

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Speaker 2: this is a different track. They don't have to offer

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Speaker 2: you anything. They don't have to offer you a shelter.

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Speaker 2: They don't have to offer you a glass of water.

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Speaker 2: They don't have to offer you a tissue if you sneeze.

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Speaker 2: If they come and say that you have to move,

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Speaker 2: they can, you know, they can try to be legalistic

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Speaker 2: and put up a notice, but the day comes, like

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Speaker 2: what they did to ELMNTE is they stated they told

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Speaker 2: them that people come out there. They didn't a step services.

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Speaker 2: One of the residents on the show, when I interviewed her, said,

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Speaker 2: they came, they offer a hotel for five days, and

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Speaker 2: that was it. They can wash the hands of it,

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Speaker 2: but the point of it is they basically check the box,

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Speaker 2: they justified it. And if you're there, like what they've

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Speaker 2: been doing in the night, running up on unhoused people

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Speaker 2: coming back, they're arresting them and using this as a

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Speaker 2: motivating who from in San Francisco, it's a long beach

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Speaker 2: in Santa Monica, they're trying to ban blankets and pillows.

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Speaker 2: They're usualizing everything in their power to override what forty

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Speaker 2: one eighteen does here or any other ordnance, or they're

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Speaker 2: creating ordinances in the spirit of what grants passes.

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Speaker 1: And that is the difference.

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Speaker 2: And I think making the distinction is very difficult because

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Speaker 2: sometimes it seems like it's interwoven or it's the same,

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Speaker 2: and it's not the same, and it's like it's becoming

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Speaker 2: a challenge trying to let people that are involved with

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Speaker 2: unhoused people to understand which is why voting on house

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Speaker 2: voting matters and we need to do more of a

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Speaker 2: better job and letting them know you may not see

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Speaker 2: the use of voting, but people are voting against your

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Speaker 2: interests all the same, and it behooves you to understand

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Speaker 2: what laws around that you have and what rights you

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Speaker 2: have in order for you to protect yourself in this

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Speaker 2: kind of dilatorious environment.

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Speaker 6: That's definitely truth to you.

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Speaker 7: Like for example, Kevin dal Leone just recently expanded forty

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Speaker 7: one eighteen zones in his district council District fourteen, and

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Speaker 7: it includes underpasses which are nowhere near schools really, so

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Speaker 7: like it does seem like after Grant's passed overnight, they

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Speaker 7: have kind of just changed the illegal rationale behind what

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Speaker 7: forty eighteen was when it was passed and then Grant passed.

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Speaker 7: Of course, as he noted, it's basically almost an open

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Speaker 7: power to arrest people.

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Speaker 6: And like say like Long Beaches pounced on that and

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Speaker 6: is already doing it.

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Speaker 7: Other cities like Capacady and have been more reticent, but

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Speaker 7: they kind of view was just like a toolkit, you know,

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Speaker 7: an item in their toolkit down the line to begin

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Speaker 7: to do this.

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Speaker 6: What are we going to say, Ruth?

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Speaker 5: Thank you?

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Speaker 7: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I have this quote like from the Judge Carter court room,

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Speaker 5: from from like one of the first hearings where Judge

436
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:57,320
Speaker 5: Carter says like, Okay, now let's just go on for

437
00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,359
Speaker 5: a moment. I think I've got I'm I'm going to

438
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:02,439
Speaker 5: show you a sign just to leave you here with

439
00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:04,440
Speaker 5: kind of a smile on your face. For the law

440
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 5: enforcement and for our folks out there, could you find

441
00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,240
Speaker 5: the last sign that the community introduced me to you.

442
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,800
Speaker 5: It's a parking sign? Yes, right there, right there? Okay,

443
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 5: this is great. If you ever want to see a

444
00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 5: parking infraction, here it is. I want you to try

445
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,879
Speaker 5: to park your car and read this sign. Sometimes I

446
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,359
Speaker 5: can give you a ticket under any circumstances because this

447
00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 5: is so convoluted, and I want to keep this sign

448
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,119
Speaker 5: here for a second, I just chuckled. The city might

449
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 5: want to clean that up, clean it up. So, like,

450
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,199
Speaker 5: I think what he's saying here is like basically, you

451
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,879
Speaker 5: can get your car towed no matter where you park

452
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,760
Speaker 5: in the city because it's unclear where you're allowed to

453
00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:48,440
Speaker 5: be and where you're not. And I think that there's

454
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:53,560
Speaker 5: a parallel between that and the enforcement that was going

455
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,840
Speaker 5: on in our city before Grant's pass and now is

456
00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:00,240
Speaker 5: going on where like now they can just arrest you

457
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 5: even if you know there's no signs, even if there's

458
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:06,680
Speaker 5: no notice, you know, even if there's no place for you.

459
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,440
Speaker 1: To go, and they don't have to offer services.

460
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,760
Speaker 2: That's that's there is the rub to This is because

461
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:17,240
Speaker 2: what forty eighteen provided was a way around Martin v. Boise,

462
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 2: and because they have come down heavily on the cities

463
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 2: that were criminalizing unhouse people in mass they had to

464
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,240
Speaker 2: find something in order to slow that kind of aggressive

465
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:33,440
Speaker 2: violence that they were doing. But with this grants past ruling,

466
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:37,000
Speaker 2: it removes the bridle from the horse, or if you will,

467
00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,159
Speaker 2: if it's that's a metaphor, or opens the gate and

468
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,679
Speaker 2: then allows the beasts to run and descend upon, you know,

469
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,159
Speaker 2: the vulnerable as they see fit. That's why I reiterate,

470
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,440
Speaker 2: they don't have to have a sign, they don't have

471
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,119
Speaker 2: to offer services. They don't have to give you a

472
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:54,879
Speaker 2: clean ass while you're crying about, while they're throwing your

473
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:59,000
Speaker 2: things away. They don't care. If you don't move, You're

474
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,000
Speaker 2: going to go get your rest. That's the conversation. If

475
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,320
Speaker 2: you are in an RV and you don't take their services,

476
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,879
Speaker 2: they will tell your RV their justification is because you

477
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,480
Speaker 2: want accept shelter. Now, you know, some of the RV's

478
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:14,080
Speaker 2: may be down, you know, a little bit of weathered

479
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:18,920
Speaker 2: or whatever, but it provides a shelter that they could

480
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,399
Speaker 2: live with without worrying about the car through structures of

481
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:26,440
Speaker 2: some of the shelters, or the impermanence of the idea

482
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:28,720
Speaker 2: of staying in the shelter like for a few days

483
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 2: and being thrown out or having to find that the

484
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:35,080
Speaker 2: shelter is full. They have somewhere stable that they can

485
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 2: count on or rely on and be able to be in.

486
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:42,320
Speaker 2: Which is the thing The conversation is that Baron Bass

487
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:46,520
Speaker 2: is making these things like she's offering services, and you know,

488
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 2: RVs are being moved or told. You're towing people's property,

489
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:56,719
Speaker 2: their livelihood, and most importantly their structured to live in

490
00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,080
Speaker 2: a hostile CRW world. Not everyone wants to have a

491
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:02,080
Speaker 2: tent out on the street. Not everyone wants to have

492
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 2: to shuffle from point A to point B. What I

493
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,200
Speaker 2: noticed with some of the RV's, because they have been

494
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:13,440
Speaker 2: part of the community structure, they usually know the community well,

495
00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:16,160
Speaker 2: and the community knows them because they're there for a

496
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 2: sustained period of time, and they do their best to

497
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:20,920
Speaker 2: be the best neighbor as they can. You know, there

498
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 2: are always exceptions, because it's the same thing with house people.

499
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,560
Speaker 2: But you know, sometimes some of the nimbies take it

500
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 2: to a distance farther without understanding you know, there are

501
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 2: things that we can all do is to be good neighbors.

502
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 2: We can also have public restrooms. This is not just

503
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,400
Speaker 2: an unhoused conversation. These are people that go to the

504
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,200
Speaker 2: city and there are places and stores and restaurants that

505
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,920
Speaker 2: don't offer bathrooms because you're not a customer. And I

506
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 2: say bathroom access.

507
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:46,880
Speaker 1: Is for all.

508
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,000
Speaker 2: They are disabled people. There are people that just come

509
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:52,240
Speaker 2: in from the town. They can't wait to go back

510
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 2: home to the restroom. You know, we need to as

511
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,720
Speaker 2: a city, instead of pushing so much money into the LAPD,

512
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,680
Speaker 2: we need to be able to divest that money into

513
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 2: making our city much more welcoming and much more empathetic

514
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 2: and humane. But I'm digressing. I feel like I'm preaching

515
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 2: to the choir. We'll continue this conversation after this break.

516
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:20,720
Speaker 1: And we're back.

517
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,960
Speaker 2: I also wanted to take this conversation from the Grants

518
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 2: past as well. Where do you see this is going

519
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 2: to be Because the World Cup is coming up in

520
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:33,000
Speaker 2: two twenty twenty five, and then we are hosting the Olympics.

521
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,640
Speaker 2: How do you see from moving forward, how Grant's pass

522
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,640
Speaker 2: is going to affect the end house community. And you know,

523
00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:41,160
Speaker 2: in the house community if you will.

524
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:43,320
Speaker 7: So I think this is going to come to a

525
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,200
Speaker 7: head much sooner than the World Cup, for Super Bowl,

526
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:47,720
Speaker 7: or even the Olympics.

527
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 6: You know.

528
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:50,239
Speaker 7: I think there's been a lot of talk about, you know,

529
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 7: they want to clean the city up, you know, absensibly

530
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,640
Speaker 7: by sweeping people away. The mayor has said she's not

531
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 7: going to do that necessarily, but we're not getting a

532
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 7: lot of answers, Like Ruth and I have tried to

533
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,840
Speaker 7: talking with LA twenty eight and they don't respond to us.

534
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:04,160
Speaker 6: Ruth, what do you think?

535
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:07,760
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think that people thought that Grant's

536
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:13,040
Speaker 5: past was about the unhoused, but it's about everybody, and

537
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:16,200
Speaker 5: people will start to realize that soon that it means

538
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:19,600
Speaker 5: if you're out in public, you're arrestable, you know. And

539
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:23,360
Speaker 5: I think that making it seem like it was about

540
00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 5: the unhoused was maybe.

541
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 6: A clever trick.

542
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:28,960
Speaker 5: But like it said in that quote, like he's saying,

543
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:32,040
Speaker 5: like here's a little gift for law enforcement. But he's

544
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:36,000
Speaker 5: saying is like, you know, all these vehicles are towable now,

545
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,680
Speaker 5: all of these people are arrestable now, and that's really

546
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:44,920
Speaker 5: really ominous. You know. I don't think that people realize

547
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,640
Speaker 5: that like that's the effect it had. But like housed

548
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:50,400
Speaker 5: people are going to start getting arrested and start having

549
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,120
Speaker 5: their cars towed to and maybe are going to be

550
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,040
Speaker 5: unable to bounce back from that. Like we've seen people

551
00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:59,200
Speaker 5: at suites that are there for defense have their cars

552
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:02,720
Speaker 5: threatened or towed. And we've seen the press that are

553
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 5: covering sweeps be arrested and put in handcuffs and put

554
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 5: in the back of police cars. Just last week, Lexus

555
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:14,360
Speaker 5: Olivier Ray was put in a LAPD car in handcuffs

556
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:18,280
Speaker 5: and he was not ticketed or charged with a violation.

557
00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,160
Speaker 5: But basically, yeah, I think that it's also going to

558
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:25,840
Speaker 5: come up at protests, you know, like people who are

559
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:31,040
Speaker 5: protesting in public are getting arrested now and it's not right,

560
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,360
Speaker 5: like you used to have to break a law, like

561
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:37,200
Speaker 5: an actual law, like hopefully a constitutional one, to get

562
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,720
Speaker 5: put in handcuffs and taken to jail, or break a

563
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,920
Speaker 5: parking law like to have your car towed, Like your

564
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 5: car couldn't just get towed because it was ugly, Like

565
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 5: it used to have to be blocking like regress or

566
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,480
Speaker 5: taking up too many spaces, and now it can just

567
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 5: get towed because you know, they want to tow it

568
00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 5: and you know, it's it's not right, Like people should

569
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 5: not want to go to jail. And I think that

570
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,760
Speaker 5: what the argument was in Grant's path was that it's

571
00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:10,800
Speaker 5: not a punishment until you're charged with a crime. Like

572
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:13,880
Speaker 5: it's like the punishment doesn't start until the arrest process

573
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,520
Speaker 5: is over. But like, I just I don't see how

574
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,360
Speaker 5: that can be because people know that going to jail

575
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:23,080
Speaker 5: is rough and cruel and deprived, Like you lose your things.

576
00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:24,840
Speaker 5: You know, if you have a bicycle or something and

577
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 5: you get arrested, a lot of times the cup just

578
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,280
Speaker 5: leave it on the scene and then you can't get

579
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,280
Speaker 5: it back later and now now you don't have a bike.

580
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:34,280
Speaker 5: You know, you could lose your job because you got arrested.

581
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 5: You know, going to jail is not something that people

582
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 5: should take lightly, and it's not something that we should

583
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:41,880
Speaker 5: be doing to more people. It's something that we should

584
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,320
Speaker 5: be scaling back from. And I think that that goes

585
00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:46,600
Speaker 5: back to the you know, the LAPD thing, like funding

586
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 5: these interim shelters has indirectly funded LAPD because they've managed

587
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 5: to siphon accounts that were for interim housing and homelessness

588
00:33:56,040 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 5: services away from those purposes by saying that lap overtime

589
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 5: is a homeless service. And at the same time, people

590
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,440
Speaker 5: in these shelters are deprived of the ability to even

591
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,480
Speaker 5: receive mail, so they can't necessarily vote. And so by

592
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:15,160
Speaker 5: like disenfranchising the people that are benefiting from Measure A,

593
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:19,800
Speaker 5: they might be hurting its chances of becoming a permanent

594
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,120
Speaker 5: source of funding for housing because the people who are

595
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:26,840
Speaker 5: benefiting from it maybe don't even know and they definitely

596
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 5: can't easily vote because they can't get their ballots.

597
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:32,960
Speaker 2: Just so, for clarity's sake, what is Measure A for

598
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:34,560
Speaker 2: my own edification as well?

599
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:38,319
Speaker 5: So it's basically increasing taxes by a quarter cent on

600
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:43,640
Speaker 5: non essentials forever, so we're supposed to fund housing services.

601
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,040
Speaker 5: I think it's a sixty percent like it's supposed to

602
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,760
Speaker 5: us on services. And one of the problems with Measure

603
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 5: H was that there was no oversight for the city portion.

604
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,280
Speaker 5: There was only oversight on the county portion. So that's

605
00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:58,880
Speaker 5: maybe how the city's portion kind of got diverted to

606
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,920
Speaker 5: the LAPD over time and stuff, And I think that

607
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:03,760
Speaker 5: that's probably one of the ways it could be fixed,

608
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,319
Speaker 5: is like if you know there was more oversight at

609
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 5: the city level.

610
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:09,759
Speaker 6: You're not crazy either.

611
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:13,840
Speaker 7: The mailers they sent out didn't adequately explain that it

612
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:17,200
Speaker 7: was attacked increased, yes, and that got spotted by the

613
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:18,279
Speaker 7: La Times.

614
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:19,920
Speaker 6: So like that that's kind of like.

615
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 7: To some of the confusion, and like Ruth and I

616
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,320
Speaker 7: have tried to figure out kind of like what even

617
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:27,080
Speaker 7: like you know, measure HS did exactly that you know

618
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 7: had a positive impact, and like you know, halfcent doesn't

619
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:33,480
Speaker 7: seem like a lot, but like it is, it is

620
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:37,239
Speaker 7: a pretty penny. And then mostly you know, there are

621
00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:40,320
Speaker 7: the city's in a budget crisis anyways, and the county's

622
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:44,000
Speaker 7: not much better. So like they're worried about the kind

623
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,640
Speaker 7: of just the funding house of cards coming down here

624
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:50,880
Speaker 7: and you know, what people call the homeless industrial complex

625
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,319
Speaker 7: kind of crumbling a little bit. Obviously, nobody wants to

626
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:56,799
Speaker 7: see decrease spending, but at the same time, we don't

627
00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,160
Speaker 7: have good accountability on the spending we have now, as

628
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:02,720
Speaker 7: Ruth noted, So like Ruth and I have been pushing

629
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:05,680
Speaker 7: really hard on you know, we were talking about CEEF

630
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:09,080
Speaker 7: nineteen ten twenty to get that lived experienced body going.

631
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:10,480
Speaker 6: So there is feedback.

632
00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:13,560
Speaker 7: And then we've also been talking with the Controller's office

633
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,759
Speaker 7: about ways that we can better manage reports about waste,

634
00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:19,520
Speaker 7: fraud and abuse to get to where we want to

635
00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:24,480
Speaker 7: be as far as accountability, because otherwise voters are very skeptical.

636
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 2: Well they should be. And also the people that have

637
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:31,840
Speaker 2: been impacted because thanks to Kendethmyhia's investigation on the food

638
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,280
Speaker 2: crisis or the food or lack of food, adequate food,

639
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:38,280
Speaker 2: they were just giving you know, unhoused people ramen noodles

640
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,520
Speaker 2: and that's it. They were not balanced meals. They were

641
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 2: just an over abundance of it, and people were just

642
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 2: coasting and just taking money and just you know, giving

643
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:49,800
Speaker 2: the bare minimal.

644
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:50,680
Speaker 1: And that's the thing.

645
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,720
Speaker 2: Too, is that the conversation, i believe needs to also

646
00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 2: shift in when we're dealing with funding that giving dignified

647
00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:00,960
Speaker 2: solutions to unhoused people as well, because there is that

648
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:04,200
Speaker 2: pocket of people that believe you can accept anything. Beggars

649
00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:07,279
Speaker 2: can't be choosers, but we have human beings. The human

650
00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 2: spectrum is diverse and the needs are varied as well.

651
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:13,160
Speaker 2: We just cannot just do a cookie cutter kind of

652
00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 2: solution and think, you know, they have it. If you

653
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:17,719
Speaker 2: don't like it, then don't be on house. But that's

654
00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 2: a pernicious thoughts school that it needs to really be

655
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:22,040
Speaker 2: challenged as well.

656
00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:25,240
Speaker 1: But I'm digressing on that. But Ruth, what's your intake

657
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:25,520
Speaker 1: on this?

658
00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:26,279
Speaker 4: Well?

659
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:29,719
Speaker 5: Yeah, like the messaging on Measure A has been a

660
00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:32,560
Speaker 5: little bit confusing, like because they're calling it the bold

661
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,120
Speaker 5: New Way, which is super vague, but it makes it

662
00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:36,880
Speaker 5: sound like it's new. It doesn't make it sound like

663
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:41,880
Speaker 5: something's renewing or like being extended that's already existing. And

664
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:46,560
Speaker 5: you know, it's hard to get accountability when like I

665
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:48,960
Speaker 5: was trying to advocate for someone who was removed from

666
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:52,200
Speaker 5: a hotel program at a home key in the pouring

667
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:55,800
Speaker 5: rain with no notice, and like I could not get

668
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:58,560
Speaker 5: any action, you know, I couldn't get like the nonprofit

669
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:02,319
Speaker 5: to reconsider anything. And you know, when you think of

670
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:06,360
Speaker 5: like what you would normally do, Like I didn't know

671
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:08,040
Speaker 5: what to tell them to do, Like like if you

672
00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:09,759
Speaker 5: were removed from your house, if you were locked out

673
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:12,520
Speaker 5: of your rental apartment, like what would you do? Like

674
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 5: how would you get back in?

675
00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:13,880
Speaker 4: Like?

676
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,160
Speaker 5: And I didn't know what to tell this person. And

677
00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:19,040
Speaker 5: I tried to help them get a tarps at least

678
00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:22,360
Speaker 5: before it rains, but it made me feel really disenchanted

679
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,439
Speaker 5: by like the whole thing, like because you know, we've

680
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:29,920
Speaker 5: had a inside Safe in our neighborhood since December of

681
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:33,600
Speaker 5: last year, contracted, but none of us have been able

682
00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:36,640
Speaker 5: to access it. And then I guess, like what happened

683
00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,759
Speaker 5: recently was they let families into this hotel through two

684
00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,960
Speaker 5: one one to the heat waves, right, and like I

685
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,840
Speaker 5: don't know if these families are getting food or anything,

686
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:49,640
Speaker 5: if they're getting meals or if they're getting gift cards.

687
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:52,319
Speaker 5: But you know, like I have not even gotten a

688
00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:55,360
Speaker 5: noodle from Inside Safe, So you know, I think it's

689
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:58,560
Speaker 5: that there's a big issue though with what happened with

690
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:05,360
Speaker 5: the ramin scan, because like if nonprofit employees are stealing food,

691
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:09,360
Speaker 5: like that's sad, and that means that they're not making

692
00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:13,720
Speaker 5: enough money to feed their families. And like another whole

693
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,000
Speaker 5: problem is that like they don't have job security because

694
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:19,680
Speaker 5: they don't know if their jobs are going to be funded,

695
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:22,600
Speaker 5: you know, six months from now, and if they're going

696
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:25,560
Speaker 5: to have to go on unemployment or or something like that.

697
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,600
Speaker 5: So you know, it's an interesting thing that like I've

698
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 5: also heard about vouchers getting diverted and sold by nonprofits,

699
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:36,400
Speaker 5: and that's sad too because if they can't afford housing

700
00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:40,960
Speaker 5: close to their jobs. Like I'm advocating for people who

701
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:42,920
Speaker 5: are inside, but I think, you know, it's best to

702
00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:46,359
Speaker 5: align ourselves with the people working for service providers too,

703
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,080
Speaker 5: because like a lot of times, they end up butting

704
00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:51,239
Speaker 5: heads because they end up trying to like assert some

705
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:53,799
Speaker 5: sort of dominance over us, but like a lot of times,

706
00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:56,600
Speaker 5: they're being oppressed by the same people that are oppressing us.

707
00:39:57,120 --> 00:39:58,880
Speaker 1: I think you make it excellent point.

708
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,680
Speaker 2: And you know, and I have been saying this for

709
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:05,200
Speaker 2: some time sometimes which makes it very difficult. Some of

710
00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:08,080
Speaker 2: us are invested in our own oppression. And when I

711
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 2: say this, this is what I mean. I mean that

712
00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,840
Speaker 2: there are people that are suffering some similar There is

713
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:16,879
Speaker 2: a house and security, they're poverty and secure, and then

714
00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:20,319
Speaker 2: here is someone that's a little bit more vulnerable, and

715
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:23,000
Speaker 2: they believe that they did a couple of extra steps

716
00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:26,040
Speaker 2: better than those vulnerable people, and then they get a

717
00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:29,400
Speaker 2: chance to be over them, and in order to ingratiate

718
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:34,960
Speaker 2: oneself to the lagress of the oppressor or oppression system,

719
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 2: they outdo themselves. There's a saying in the African American community.

720
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:43,440
Speaker 2: Sometimes the worst police officer that engages in white supremacist

721
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:47,400
Speaker 2: behavior are people of color because they want to maintain

722
00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:49,920
Speaker 2: the crumbs that they get, so they will go above

723
00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:53,200
Speaker 2: and beyond. If you remember the case with Tarry Nicol,

724
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:58,200
Speaker 2: the police officers that brutally beat this unarmed black man,

725
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:02,239
Speaker 2: they went above and beyond in order to stay in

726
00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:06,279
Speaker 2: the good graces of other police officers that did not

727
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:08,640
Speaker 2: share their same color. But the point of it is

728
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:12,440
Speaker 2: that we have, even in the unhoused community, I unfortunately

729
00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:16,200
Speaker 2: have met people that were pro police that were great

730
00:41:16,239 --> 00:41:19,960
Speaker 2: on launching themselves against other unhoused people that may not

731
00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:24,359
Speaker 2: have their maladies, or may have mental challenges, or have

732
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:27,439
Speaker 2: some and usage issues, and they will break their neck

733
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:30,680
Speaker 2: to make sure people know that they're not like those people,

734
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,560
Speaker 2: and they are perfectly on board with criminalizing and harming

735
00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:37,360
Speaker 2: those people in order to get an extra few extra

736
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:41,439
Speaker 2: pats on the head or some extra food, or maybe

737
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:45,040
Speaker 2: a couple extra dollars, or even just the notion that

738
00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:48,880
Speaker 2: they are one of the good, good unhoused people, you know,

739
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,520
Speaker 2: which you know, it's just horrible in itself to say,

740
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:54,440
Speaker 2: you know, to be at the house and you know,

741
00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:58,479
Speaker 2: we all are the human spectrum, have good and bad

742
00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:01,200
Speaker 2: in every facet of life. But the fact that it

743
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:04,040
Speaker 2: is when we have oppression, we always are fighting for

744
00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:06,759
Speaker 2: the little crumbs or the little extra space or the

745
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:10,000
Speaker 2: little extra grace that the oppressor has given us.

746
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,080
Speaker 1: But again I'm digressing so well.

747
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:14,920
Speaker 7: You know one thing I should not is today is

748
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,200
Speaker 7: a national day of action for Black Lives Matter to

749
00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:20,799
Speaker 7: stop cop nation. And like as Ruth mentioned, one of

750
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,360
Speaker 7: our colleagues, a Lectis Olivia Ray of the Ali Taco

751
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:27,200
Speaker 7: was actually arrested the other day covering sweeps in skid Row,

752
00:42:27,719 --> 00:42:30,560
Speaker 7: despite the police knowing who he was, the mayor's office

753
00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,560
Speaker 7: knowing about it, and then having letters from the aclu

754
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,239
Speaker 7: so Cal in the First Amendment Coalition, And he was

755
00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:38,759
Speaker 7: actually detained for forty five minutes simply for covering the

756
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,080
Speaker 7: sweep and then he was released after they acknowledged.

757
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:42,480
Speaker 6: That he was pressed.

758
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:46,680
Speaker 7: So like, you know, we know, right the system compromises

759
00:42:46,719 --> 00:42:49,960
Speaker 7: people and get to perform their functions and that you know,

760
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:52,600
Speaker 7: even their humanity sometimes you know, comes in the way.

761
00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:54,320
Speaker 6: Like I was watching Molina.

762
00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:56,520
Speaker 7: Abdullah the Council that they speak and her time is

763
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,399
Speaker 7: up in the officer was trying to usher her away

764
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:00,839
Speaker 7: from the podium, and he was just like, I don't

765
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:01,239
Speaker 7: want touch you.

766
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:02,520
Speaker 6: I don't want touch you. I just want to don't

767
00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:03,279
Speaker 6: I don't want to touch you.

768
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:07,400
Speaker 7: But like, you know, it's kind of like Marquise was

769
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:09,840
Speaker 7: up there today and you know, a woman who was

770
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:12,440
Speaker 7: there with the ashes of her dead son, and Marquise

771
00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:16,120
Speaker 7: wouldn't even take control of the situation and express empathy.

772
00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:19,719
Speaker 7: They actually went into recess today to get rid of

773
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:22,520
Speaker 7: the crowd that was there and was you know, effectively

774
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:25,279
Speaker 7: disrupting the meeting. And like, you know, it's not that

775
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:28,880
Speaker 7: like nobody thinks government shouldn't function, but people are rightfully angry,

776
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:31,759
Speaker 7: and when you don't acknowledge their anger and their pain

777
00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:34,919
Speaker 7: and you don't show them respect, you don't get respect back,

778
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:37,960
Speaker 7: and you just get more corrupted system. Absolutely, And so

779
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:40,719
Speaker 7: unfortunately that's where we're in Los Angeles. People don't have

780
00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:42,680
Speaker 7: a lot of faith in the government, and the government

781
00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:43,880
Speaker 7: doesn't have a lot of faith in the people.

782
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:47,560
Speaker 2: And I think you've nail on the head because I've

783
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:51,360
Speaker 2: noticed in the way they treat people that are righteously

784
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:54,560
Speaker 2: indignant against some of the injustices that's being dacted by

785
00:43:54,560 --> 00:43:58,200
Speaker 2: the city. For example, I remember in the beginning when

786
00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:00,319
Speaker 2: was in his I almost say emphasy, but in this

787
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:04,200
Speaker 2: adolescence and people were speaking out, and they have tried

788
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:06,839
Speaker 2: to limit the speaking time. Then they moved the time

789
00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:09,160
Speaker 2: to the end of the day. Then they try to

790
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 2: jumble up the topics. They did everything in their power

791
00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:17,200
Speaker 2: to make sure that there wasn't a concerted, unified, concerted

792
00:44:17,239 --> 00:44:20,439
Speaker 2: effort in order to speaking out injustice. And I dare

793
00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:24,360
Speaker 2: say that they're continuing that campaign. And in order for

794
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 2: them to continue to do that, they must create the also,

795
00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:31,320
Speaker 2: which is why I take exception to how Marabas is

796
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:34,680
Speaker 2: making this polyanna kind of propaganda, making it sound like

797
00:44:34,719 --> 00:44:37,960
Speaker 2: that she's doing these things, these great things, that's moving

798
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,879
Speaker 2: the city forward, when in essence, she's moving them out

799
00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:44,080
Speaker 2: of sight behind where people don't see, you know, or

800
00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:47,560
Speaker 2: they're or willing do you trust me or you trust

801
00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:50,359
Speaker 2: your lying eyes? And that is exactly what the city

802
00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:54,000
Speaker 2: is doing. They're putting in money into the harmful systems,

803
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:56,880
Speaker 2: and the extracting the money where it could go into

804
00:44:57,400 --> 00:45:00,799
Speaker 2: people that need the assistence and more vulnerable, and vulnerability

805
00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:03,080
Speaker 2: is just not with the young house, there's the houses secure,

806
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:08,040
Speaker 2: there's the job insecure. Where is the poverty stricken? There

807
00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:12,799
Speaker 2: are so many intersections to push the needle against the

808
00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:16,120
Speaker 2: most vulnerable and vulnerable in order to get an extra

809
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:20,759
Speaker 2: crumb or to get the violent actions against them off

810
00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:23,160
Speaker 2: of them and the pressure onto someone else in order.

811
00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:25,560
Speaker 2: We need to organize as well, but we also need

812
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 2: to be educated on our struggles a little bit more.

813
00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:33,200
Speaker 2: But also once that is having some hard conversations, having

814
00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:37,120
Speaker 2: some unified conversations, and then really going after the people

815
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:41,120
Speaker 2: that are trying to divide the conversation or community. Am

816
00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:43,640
Speaker 2: I off the mark or do you guys think that

817
00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:45,120
Speaker 2: that's a reasonable plan?

818
00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:50,160
Speaker 5: Absolutely? Like, I'm not trying to like advocate for a

819
00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:53,800
Speaker 5: world where like the press can stand by a sweeps

820
00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:56,839
Speaker 5: happen and not get arrested. I don't want a world

821
00:45:56,880 --> 00:46:00,760
Speaker 5: where sweep player happening period, like you know, but it's

822
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:03,960
Speaker 5: just yeah, it's like the right violations on top of

823
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:07,520
Speaker 5: right violations on top of right violations, and you know,

824
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:11,719
Speaker 5: people need to like, you know, put their foot down

825
00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:15,520
Speaker 5: and demand that people's rights are respected and demand that people,

826
00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:18,960
Speaker 5: you know, are treated with dignity no matter who they

827
00:46:18,960 --> 00:46:21,600
Speaker 5: are and where they came from and what they're going through.

828
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,720
Speaker 7: There's this proposal that's been floating around. It's it's simply

829
00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:30,640
Speaker 7: a Diraft spreadsheet, actually, and it estimates that the cost

830
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:33,480
Speaker 7: for the City of Los Angeles in ten years to

831
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:37,640
Speaker 7: meet its housing and homelessess golls is twenty one billion

832
00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:41,720
Speaker 7: dollars approximately, And like it sounds like a lot of money,

833
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:44,960
Speaker 7: but it's actually still just a portion of the ILPD budget.

834
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:48,520
Speaker 7: And then the other question you come into is, even

835
00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:51,280
Speaker 7: if we wanted to house everybody, where do the units

836
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:53,879
Speaker 7: come from? Because the shelter bad system is toothmall, we're

837
00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:57,680
Speaker 7: not building permanent housing fast enough, and interim housing is

838
00:46:58,640 --> 00:46:59,400
Speaker 7: the same issue.

839
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:00,840
Speaker 6: We're do you begin to do it?

840
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:05,000
Speaker 7: And that's just played out on the Veterans campus actually,

841
00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:09,920
Speaker 7: where the Veterans have succeeded in powers McDonough their lawsuit

842
00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:11,680
Speaker 7: against the VA, which is kind of a rehash of

843
00:47:11,719 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 7: the lawsuit ten years ago. And Judge Carter is in

844
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:19,520
Speaker 7: the position of placing modular units on the VIA campus

845
00:47:19,560 --> 00:47:21,680
Speaker 7: and then getting the VA to pay for it, and

846
00:47:21,719 --> 00:47:26,480
Speaker 7: the government is actually objecting to his plan and indicating

847
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:29,000
Speaker 7: that they want to appeal it, that they are prepared

848
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:31,000
Speaker 7: that they don't feel they have any obligation even how

849
00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:32,040
Speaker 7: as a veterans.

850
00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:34,080
Speaker 6: And there's about three thousand on house.

851
00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:37,160
Speaker 7: Veterans in Los Angeles, where the nation's capital veteran hopelessness,

852
00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:39,839
Speaker 7: and we can't even rally around that. So I think,

853
00:47:39,880 --> 00:47:43,280
Speaker 7: you know, as far as like getting the disruptive voices,

854
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:46,040
Speaker 7: you know, you know, away from it, there's bad actors

855
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:47,120
Speaker 7: on both on all sides.

856
00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:49,320
Speaker 6: There's people who just want to see chaos.

857
00:47:49,239 --> 00:47:51,400
Speaker 7: And then there's people who just want their special interest

858
00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:53,319
Speaker 7: to pavalue, you know, namely, you know, the real estate

859
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:56,359
Speaker 7: developers who want the unhoused away from their buildings so

860
00:47:56,360 --> 00:47:58,719
Speaker 7: that the buildings will go up in value. And that's

861
00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:00,040
Speaker 7: where we get, you know, kind of the business, this

862
00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:03,320
Speaker 7: improvement district, people riding around on bikes and security guards

863
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:06,040
Speaker 7: and all those other soft measures that are not you know,

864
00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:09,719
Speaker 7: that's the hammer of forty one eighteen or Frans pass.

865
00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:13,680
Speaker 2: I think we can have to stop here at this moment,

866
00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:16,279
Speaker 2: but I would like to invite you guys back. I

867
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:20,600
Speaker 2: had a brain wave myself is to create maybe a

868
00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:24,560
Speaker 2: tentative kind of lived Experience commission where we have people

869
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:27,160
Speaker 2: that are in the know not just here in Los Angeles,

870
00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:29,680
Speaker 2: but other House community members that I've reached out to

871
00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:33,600
Speaker 2: and just have a conversation on what accountability could look like,

872
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:38,000
Speaker 2: what solutions that we could offer. And basically, because Ewitian

873
00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:40,920
Speaker 2: House is to uplift the voices of unhoused people, that

874
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:43,640
Speaker 2: we've got to start in a way somewhere. But also,

875
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:46,400
Speaker 2: you know, I think our ideas will be more grounded

876
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:49,360
Speaker 2: in reality and in a way that it shapes it.

877
00:48:49,719 --> 00:48:52,920
Speaker 2: Who knows, maybe we'll shape public policy, not just in

878
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:54,600
Speaker 2: Los Angeles but around the world.

879
00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:56,640
Speaker 5: I love that that would be amazing.

880
00:48:57,239 --> 00:48:59,279
Speaker 2: So stay tuned for further details on it. I have

881
00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:01,759
Speaker 2: to flesh it out of it with Mike Excellent and

882
00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:04,960
Speaker 2: Mike Awesome producers, and I thank you all for taking

883
00:49:04,960 --> 00:49:06,719
Speaker 2: the time to chat with me and you're out of

884
00:49:06,719 --> 00:49:09,359
Speaker 2: your business schedules. I hope to invite you guys back,

885
00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:12,080
Speaker 2: and I hope we all meet in the light of understanding.

886
00:49:12,200 --> 00:49:12,839
Speaker 5: Thank you THEO.

887
00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:21,040
Speaker 2: Thanks so much to Ruth. You can follow her work

888
00:49:21,080 --> 00:49:24,359
Speaker 2: on Twitter and Instagram at Ruth Lesser. When we come back,

889
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:29,799
Speaker 2: I check in with returning guests and housing activists. Martha Isquerdo,

890
00:49:33,719 --> 00:49:36,360
Speaker 2: Welcome back to to Theo Henderson with Weedy and Howes.

891
00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:40,799
Speaker 2: Martha is another returning guest on the show, with an

892
00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:45,600
Speaker 2: update on her eviction status. Here, we discuss a harsh

893
00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:48,440
Speaker 2: new world under the grant's past ruling.

894
00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:52,560
Speaker 1: Hi, so yes.

895
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:55,960
Speaker 8: We're hearing and said in no where. Me and my

896
00:49:56,040 --> 00:50:00,120
Speaker 8: daughters became the house in twenty twenty and then we

897
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:02,960
Speaker 8: we were transferred into the Path program, which is temporary

898
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:06,480
Speaker 8: housing with hot Lab, a housing authority here in Los Angeles,

899
00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:12,120
Speaker 8: for two years. Then that ended. The problem is that

900
00:50:12,200 --> 00:50:16,760
Speaker 8: I've been fighting eviction since then, which is since twenty

901
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:21,920
Speaker 8: twenty two. I believe it's been four years living here,

902
00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:25,520
Speaker 8: and I have a community. My house is like a

903
00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:29,440
Speaker 8: hub for mutual aid. I've done healing here as a

904
00:50:29,480 --> 00:50:33,399
Speaker 8: garden that provides medicine for community. We had a homeschooling

905
00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:36,440
Speaker 8: co op, so it's more than just our house. Like

906
00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:41,160
Speaker 8: me and my daughters, it's for community. It's also organizing space.

907
00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:44,960
Speaker 8: And we don't want to move out of here. I

908
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:49,560
Speaker 8: mean to me, it would be a very just really

909
00:50:49,560 --> 00:50:54,880
Speaker 8: difficult and challenging displacement, especially because my daughters have a

910
00:50:54,960 --> 00:50:57,680
Speaker 8: lot of different needs that are met in their local

911
00:50:57,719 --> 00:51:02,400
Speaker 8: schools and Hot Law I was offering our path was

912
00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:06,319
Speaker 8: offering homes that are really far away. As a single mom,

913
00:51:06,360 --> 00:51:09,640
Speaker 8: I also have my support system here and they don't

914
00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:14,279
Speaker 8: really meet the needs that my family has, and so

915
00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:17,640
Speaker 8: I was willing to move if it was nearby, if

916
00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:20,320
Speaker 8: it was the equitable rent. A lot of the housing

917
00:51:20,680 --> 00:51:25,319
Speaker 8: that's called affordable housings aren't really affordable anymore, and the

918
00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:28,520
Speaker 8: problem is still remains surrounds really high, the wages are low,

919
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:31,960
Speaker 8: and I just think we need to really create a

920
00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:35,359
Speaker 8: significant shift in the system that is super shitty right

921
00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:39,480
Speaker 8: now that it's a fabricated housing crisis where the state

922
00:51:39,719 --> 00:51:43,760
Speaker 8: has hoarded houses and not only the state, the city

923
00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:48,399
Speaker 8: and the county and even the unified school system. So

924
00:51:48,440 --> 00:51:52,120
Speaker 8: they're hoarding houses while people are suffering on the streets.

925
00:51:52,400 --> 00:51:55,120
Speaker 8: And it's just not single people. These are families. These

926
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:59,279
Speaker 8: are elders or people that are you know, disability, that

927
00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:04,960
Speaker 8: have pen and fixed incomes and cannot afford this high rent.

928
00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:09,239
Speaker 8: And so I just feel like I'm really upset and

929
00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:14,200
Speaker 8: frustrated that we are not doing more and we could

930
00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:21,319
Speaker 8: in creating significant shifts in how unbalanced the rent is

931
00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:26,080
Speaker 8: and the housings. And I have like more humane processes.

932
00:52:26,760 --> 00:52:29,600
Speaker 8: And I also feel it's really important the people that

933
00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:35,360
Speaker 8: are directly affected by this crisis have more of a

934
00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:39,400
Speaker 8: creative way in actually coming up with these solutions, because

935
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:41,799
Speaker 8: the people on top, they are housed and mansions or

936
00:52:41,840 --> 00:52:44,960
Speaker 8: big houses, They're not going to come up with our solutions.

937
00:52:45,480 --> 00:52:48,640
Speaker 8: They're not and so it's up to us to like

938
00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:51,279
Speaker 8: really pave the way and create this.

939
00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:56,000
Speaker 2: Well, looking back on when you first started, what made

940
00:52:56,040 --> 00:52:59,040
Speaker 2: you suddenly decide to reclaim a house because you are

941
00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:03,240
Speaker 2: a reclaimer, and why it was such an important part

942
00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:08,320
Speaker 2: of doing reclaiming houses, and most importantly why this neighborhood.

943
00:53:08,600 --> 00:53:12,920
Speaker 8: So I did it because I knew how the system was.

944
00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:15,960
Speaker 8: I have worked with moms that are in need for

945
00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:20,600
Speaker 8: many years, and I knew that the solutions were not

946
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:25,719
Speaker 8: equitable and even good for my family or for anybody,

947
00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:29,800
Speaker 8: for any human and so I felt I had to

948
00:53:29,840 --> 00:53:33,480
Speaker 8: push the limits and figure out ways to call at

949
00:53:33,560 --> 00:53:38,440
Speaker 8: tension on this crisis and on meeting the needs of

950
00:53:38,520 --> 00:53:42,880
Speaker 8: families and people in general. I found this neighborhood because

951
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:48,719
Speaker 8: I worked here, and also they had been abandoned. They

952
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:51,040
Speaker 8: were trying to do the seven ten freeway, and the

953
00:53:51,040 --> 00:53:54,480
Speaker 8: community fought against it. So they had been abandoned for

954
00:53:54,560 --> 00:53:57,000
Speaker 8: thirty years some of them. Some of them they were

955
00:53:57,080 --> 00:53:58,680
Speaker 8: like abandoned like ten years ago.

956
00:53:59,400 --> 00:53:59,920
Speaker 1: It depends.

957
00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:03,040
Speaker 8: But when I reclaimed, there was one hundred and twenty

958
00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:07,680
Speaker 8: I believe, empty homes with the it's called the seventeen corridor.

959
00:54:08,120 --> 00:54:11,920
Speaker 8: It's et Seto a Hambra and South Pasadena, and so

960
00:54:11,960 --> 00:54:14,480
Speaker 8: all these houses had been empty for so long, and

961
00:54:14,840 --> 00:54:17,960
Speaker 8: a lot of people don't know, and even people that

962
00:54:18,120 --> 00:54:21,560
Speaker 8: lived nearby, because they were kept by Caltrans, they didn't

963
00:54:21,600 --> 00:54:24,040
Speaker 8: look like they were abandoned. Some of them now they

964
00:54:24,080 --> 00:54:26,759
Speaker 8: do because they're boarded up after they were reclaiming, but

965
00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:30,640
Speaker 8: before they were not even boarded up, so people weren't

966
00:54:30,680 --> 00:54:34,400
Speaker 8: aware of that. And meanwhile, we're in a Holsey crisis.

967
00:54:34,960 --> 00:54:37,799
Speaker 8: So I did it, not just for myself because I

968
00:54:37,880 --> 00:54:42,640
Speaker 8: did want to be housed, but also just to bring awareness.

969
00:54:43,200 --> 00:54:46,080
Speaker 8: I knew that it might be possible. I wasn't gonna

970
00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:49,200
Speaker 8: stay in these houses, but I did want to bring

971
00:54:49,239 --> 00:54:54,959
Speaker 8: awareness that the state Caltrans is currently courting houses while

972
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:58,680
Speaker 8: people are on the streets, and also to try to

973
00:54:58,719 --> 00:55:02,319
Speaker 8: create these pro that are led by people that are

974
00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:06,560
Speaker 8: most effective, that are actually going to create changes and

975
00:55:06,719 --> 00:55:11,239
Speaker 8: house people permanently. Now these temporary programs, these temporary programs

976
00:55:11,520 --> 00:55:16,040
Speaker 8: are usually just a revolving door of homelessness. A lot

977
00:55:16,040 --> 00:55:19,200
Speaker 8: of people don't get housed. The media highlights the two

978
00:55:19,239 --> 00:55:23,279
Speaker 8: or three people that do find housing, so they perpetuate

979
00:55:23,320 --> 00:55:26,960
Speaker 8: this propaganda that these programs are working, when in reality,

980
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:30,279
Speaker 8: when you talk to more people, you realize that they're

981
00:55:30,320 --> 00:55:30,880
Speaker 8: not working.

982
00:55:31,400 --> 00:55:34,360
Speaker 2: Getting on the topic of propaganda is what I'm noticing

983
00:55:34,560 --> 00:55:38,040
Speaker 2: what's happening now. We're in an election cycle, but there

984
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:42,200
Speaker 2: has been this touling, particularly with ABC's Channel seven, saying

985
00:55:42,239 --> 00:55:46,920
Speaker 2: houselessness is going down and Mayor Bass's program is starting

986
00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:49,960
Speaker 2: to make a dent. And what I've been noticing is

987
00:55:49,960 --> 00:55:54,200
Speaker 2: that she's hand picking or cherry picking people who are

988
00:55:54,239 --> 00:55:58,640
Speaker 2: not either aware of how their image is going to

989
00:55:58,719 --> 00:56:02,080
Speaker 2: are being used or miss shoes and to advance a

990
00:56:02,239 --> 00:56:05,359
Speaker 2: conversation point that people don't want help, but people don't

991
00:56:05,360 --> 00:56:09,319
Speaker 2: want services. They're getting help and they're getting housing. And

992
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:13,239
Speaker 2: what is happening is they're in temporary places and there

993
00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:17,040
Speaker 2: is a backdoor where there are unhoused people that are

994
00:56:17,160 --> 00:56:21,000
Speaker 2: leaving these services because it's just a waiting gag and

995
00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:24,440
Speaker 2: you don't see It doesn't mean that people are being housed.

996
00:56:24,440 --> 00:56:29,000
Speaker 2: They're just being displaced in places where they're being heavily

997
00:56:29,200 --> 00:56:34,360
Speaker 2: parceally infected or not only bad, they are being whisked

998
00:56:34,400 --> 00:56:37,000
Speaker 2: your way from your eye sight. But that doesn't mean

999
00:56:37,080 --> 00:56:41,560
Speaker 2: that the houselessness has disappeared. So the propaganda is very

1000
00:56:41,600 --> 00:56:47,120
Speaker 2: difficult because having mainstream tacit agreement with how mayor bas

1001
00:56:47,200 --> 00:56:50,600
Speaker 2: is doing it, you're only focusing on the visible portions

1002
00:56:50,640 --> 00:56:53,920
Speaker 2: of houselessness, not the other faces of houselessness, from the

1003
00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:57,080
Speaker 2: children that are unhoused, the elderly, or people that are

1004
00:56:57,120 --> 00:57:00,879
Speaker 2: having medical emergencies or different other fats as the houselessness

1005
00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:03,359
Speaker 2: that don't live on a tent, live in a tent

1006
00:57:03,480 --> 00:57:07,520
Speaker 2: or in encampments or while they're targeting now recreational vehicles.

1007
00:57:08,040 --> 00:57:11,480
Speaker 2: It's like this is only window dressing, and it's very

1008
00:57:11,520 --> 00:57:15,239
Speaker 2: difficult for mainstream society to dial into that or to

1009
00:57:15,440 --> 00:57:20,040
Speaker 2: factor in that. So with that in mind, with the

1010
00:57:20,160 --> 00:57:23,320
Speaker 2: issue here, and I want to emphasize, you were at

1011
00:57:23,400 --> 00:57:25,880
Speaker 2: house during the pandemic and you found a place that

1012
00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:29,840
Speaker 2: was abandoned and you guys took it and you reclaimed it,

1013
00:57:30,320 --> 00:57:32,520
Speaker 2: and now you claimed it that you came into a

1014
00:57:32,560 --> 00:57:37,000
Speaker 2: program and they didn't want that to happen. So they're

1015
00:57:37,080 --> 00:57:41,880
Speaker 2: evicting you to putting someone else into a program where

1016
00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:45,640
Speaker 2: the resources and solutions that they tried to offer are

1017
00:57:45,680 --> 00:57:50,160
Speaker 2: inadequate and not appropriate for what you need. So it

1018
00:57:50,280 --> 00:57:53,880
Speaker 2: sends the message that they don't care what you need.

1019
00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:56,320
Speaker 2: It's like going to the doctor and you don't have

1020
00:57:56,360 --> 00:58:00,480
Speaker 2: any agency in your outcome or your health outcome that

1021
00:58:00,520 --> 00:58:03,439
Speaker 2: you're going to be impacted with. This is the same thing,

1022
00:58:03,760 --> 00:58:05,560
Speaker 2: but if I missed the mark or is there anything

1023
00:58:05,640 --> 00:58:07,200
Speaker 2: new to add on to No.

1024
00:58:07,360 --> 00:58:11,520
Speaker 8: It's exactly it. You know, they say beggars can't be choosers,

1025
00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:15,040
Speaker 8: but we're not begging. We know that there's enough resources

1026
00:58:15,160 --> 00:58:18,680
Speaker 8: and it's like the humane thing to do. Like human

1027
00:58:18,760 --> 00:58:22,800
Speaker 8: beings all have different needs and we should try our

1028
00:58:22,880 --> 00:58:26,200
Speaker 8: best to meet those needs so everybody could be well.

1029
00:58:26,840 --> 00:58:30,960
Speaker 8: And so my family has specific needs, other families have

1030
00:58:31,040 --> 00:58:34,400
Speaker 8: other specific needs, and I think as an agency that's

1031
00:58:34,400 --> 00:58:37,680
Speaker 8: trying to do well for the family, they should try

1032
00:58:37,680 --> 00:58:40,800
Speaker 8: to meet those needs and not just say, oh, well,

1033
00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:45,600
Speaker 8: anything's good for you. For example, shelter shelters are really

1034
00:58:46,480 --> 00:58:51,160
Speaker 8: triggering for a lot of people with PTSD or other

1035
00:58:51,240 --> 00:58:55,040
Speaker 8: mental health issues. So you can't just say, oh, we're

1036
00:58:55,040 --> 00:58:58,040
Speaker 8: meeting their needs. No you're not. You're actually re traumatizing

1037
00:58:58,080 --> 00:59:02,240
Speaker 8: them and creating one needs. That's like a waste of

1038
00:59:02,280 --> 00:59:06,440
Speaker 8: resources because instead of pouring money where something would actually

1039
00:59:06,520 --> 00:59:10,560
Speaker 8: help heal and bring that person to, you know, be

1040
00:59:10,680 --> 00:59:14,720
Speaker 8: more productive in society, if that's what's needed right now

1041
00:59:14,760 --> 00:59:17,600
Speaker 8: on capitalism. But even that, like it just doesn't make

1042
00:59:17,640 --> 00:59:20,960
Speaker 8: sense even with the capitalism mentality. For me, I'm like,

1043
00:59:21,120 --> 00:59:24,360
Speaker 8: if your point is supposed need to create a productive

1044
00:59:24,480 --> 00:59:28,960
Speaker 8: being that's going to produce, that's not effective. That's not

1045
00:59:29,040 --> 00:59:33,640
Speaker 8: cost effective for anybody. They're wasting our resources that we

1046
00:59:33,720 --> 00:59:37,320
Speaker 8: pay on taxes and then blame us and criminalize us

1047
00:59:37,320 --> 00:59:40,400
Speaker 8: for being poor. It really doesn't make sense to me.

1048
00:59:41,040 --> 00:59:43,360
Speaker 2: And I hate to say this, but also sometimes there

1049
00:59:43,400 --> 00:59:46,400
Speaker 2: are people invested in their own oppression. It's like, when

1050
00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:50,520
Speaker 2: we're talking about these temporary solutions, it's for not the

1051
00:59:50,560 --> 00:59:52,880
Speaker 2: benefit of the person that's being affected. It's for the

1052
00:59:52,960 --> 00:59:56,800
Speaker 2: people to keep a whitewashed kind of imagery of being helped.

1053
00:59:57,240 --> 01:00:01,960
Speaker 2: The second thing is is that for example, or temporary shelters,

1054
01:00:01,960 --> 01:00:06,200
Speaker 2: if you will, are not geared toward people who are

1055
01:00:06,240 --> 01:00:08,680
Speaker 2: not at their best because a lot of people have

1056
01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:11,840
Speaker 2: to suffer and cope with the challenges and stresses of

1057
01:00:11,840 --> 01:00:14,920
Speaker 2: being housed. If they're having challenges of mental health or

1058
01:00:15,000 --> 01:00:17,960
Speaker 2: challenges of substant usage, and you put them in a

1059
01:00:18,000 --> 01:00:21,000
Speaker 2: place of temporary housing and then you criminalize or demonize

1060
01:00:21,040 --> 01:00:25,360
Speaker 2: them for breaking the rules or creating isolating environments where

1061
01:00:25,440 --> 01:00:28,640
Speaker 2: they cannot cope or don't have the necessary staff to

1062
01:00:28,720 --> 01:00:31,400
Speaker 2: be able to help them, then you are also not helping.

1063
01:00:31,440 --> 01:00:35,120
Speaker 2: You're just creating another traumatic experience for them on a

1064
01:00:35,280 --> 01:00:39,040
Speaker 2: tract traumatic environment for them. And the difficulty is which

1065
01:00:39,400 --> 01:00:43,880
Speaker 2: where I saw that Marri Bass is being sued because

1066
01:00:44,040 --> 01:00:46,920
Speaker 2: the neighbors in the area of her inside starving is

1067
01:00:46,960 --> 01:00:50,840
Speaker 2: suing because there have been behaviors that they feel unhoused

1068
01:00:50,840 --> 01:00:55,000
Speaker 2: people out there selling drugs or or allowed or not

1069
01:00:55,120 --> 01:00:59,120
Speaker 2: being good neighbors. And they're blaming Mary Bassis because of

1070
01:00:59,160 --> 01:01:02,920
Speaker 2: the lack of force and the lack of willingness to

1071
01:01:03,080 --> 01:01:05,400
Speaker 2: understand these are human beings and they need to be

1072
01:01:05,440 --> 01:01:07,960
Speaker 2: met where they are, but they also need to have

1073
01:01:08,080 --> 01:01:13,160
Speaker 2: a comprehensive or starting a service some services to help

1074
01:01:13,200 --> 01:01:15,560
Speaker 2: people be able to cope. Some of the rules in

1075
01:01:15,600 --> 01:01:19,640
Speaker 2: these places are so punitive they can't communicate with each other,

1076
01:01:19,680 --> 01:01:23,200
Speaker 2: they're not allowed to visit each other. It's so punitive

1077
01:01:23,520 --> 01:01:26,080
Speaker 2: that we wouldn't do this to people that are living

1078
01:01:26,200 --> 01:01:29,240
Speaker 2: in houses or in the hotels. You don't do that

1079
01:01:29,280 --> 01:01:32,120
Speaker 2: to them, But yet we have this belief system that

1080
01:01:32,520 --> 01:01:35,760
Speaker 2: they deserve to be mistreated, they deserve to have a

1081
01:01:35,760 --> 01:01:37,040
Speaker 2: heavy hand dealt to them.

1082
01:01:37,840 --> 01:01:43,760
Speaker 8: Yeah, now that's really frustrating how people are just criminalized

1083
01:01:43,760 --> 01:01:47,720
Speaker 8: for being poor on the streets and outside the streets,

1084
01:01:48,040 --> 01:01:52,320
Speaker 8: and also in regards to like who is housed and unhoused,

1085
01:01:52,840 --> 01:01:55,439
Speaker 8: not just because you're living on the streets you're on house.

1086
01:01:55,440 --> 01:01:57,280
Speaker 8: There's people that are on house that are living in

1087
01:01:57,320 --> 01:02:01,760
Speaker 8: cars that are often not talented. For me and my daughters,

1088
01:02:01,760 --> 01:02:04,160
Speaker 8: we were CouchSurfing, but we didn't have a house, and

1089
01:02:04,200 --> 01:02:08,200
Speaker 8: that also caused a lot of instability, especially with children.

1090
01:02:08,800 --> 01:02:11,640
Speaker 8: It's not a way to live to be CouchSurfing. There's

1091
01:02:11,680 --> 01:02:14,600
Speaker 8: other people that Okay, they say they house them, but

1092
01:02:14,640 --> 01:02:18,360
Speaker 8: they end up in like really crowded living conditions with

1093
01:02:18,520 --> 01:02:22,760
Speaker 8: even like friends or family members that they don't necessarily

1094
01:02:22,800 --> 01:02:25,880
Speaker 8: get along with, but they can't pay rent on their

1095
01:02:25,920 --> 01:02:31,200
Speaker 8: own so they have to be in sometimes abusive relationships

1096
01:02:31,440 --> 01:02:34,280
Speaker 8: within a household because rent is high and they can't

1097
01:02:34,280 --> 01:02:37,240
Speaker 8: afford to do it on their own. Domestic violence too,

1098
01:02:37,440 --> 01:02:40,720
Speaker 8: like it's not just people that are on houses, people

1099
01:02:40,760 --> 01:02:46,520
Speaker 8: that are housed in situations that are violent and not

1100
01:02:46,640 --> 01:02:50,840
Speaker 8: well because red is high and wages are low, and

1101
01:02:51,160 --> 01:02:57,600
Speaker 8: there's this produced fabricated housing crisis that hasn't gone away

1102
01:02:58,120 --> 01:03:02,280
Speaker 8: and there's not adequate solutions, and then you're counted just

1103
01:03:02,320 --> 01:03:06,520
Speaker 8: as housed when and truly you're not that.

1104
01:03:06,640 --> 01:03:09,400
Speaker 2: Part two is like it's checked off the box. They

1105
01:03:09,520 --> 01:03:12,640
Speaker 2: felt that, and into the touting of the twenty three

1106
01:03:12,680 --> 01:03:16,280
Speaker 2: percent of people that they are housing that goog Soto

1107
01:03:16,400 --> 01:03:19,480
Speaker 2: Martinez is stating that this is a major success. But

1108
01:03:19,520 --> 01:03:22,240
Speaker 2: the reality is that if you break it down, break

1109
01:03:22,240 --> 01:03:25,640
Speaker 2: these down these numbers, you know, Arve house or OURVA

1110
01:03:25,720 --> 01:03:28,280
Speaker 2: house temporarily and then they're going to be back on

1111
01:03:28,320 --> 01:03:31,600
Speaker 2: the street or they're in a temporary or in this situation,

1112
01:03:32,160 --> 01:03:33,920
Speaker 2: is they felt the rules or the place is so

1113
01:03:34,000 --> 01:03:37,000
Speaker 2: untenable that they just left on their own valition and

1114
01:03:37,160 --> 01:03:40,400
Speaker 2: because they fought when they claim to be helping, which

1115
01:03:40,560 --> 01:03:44,600
Speaker 2: like other politicians like de Leon and others that come

1116
01:03:44,680 --> 01:03:47,640
Speaker 2: upon unhoused people and use these narratives that you know,

1117
01:03:47,680 --> 01:03:49,800
Speaker 2: in house people have a house to stay in which

1118
01:03:49,840 --> 01:03:51,479
Speaker 2: is a tiny shed and things like that.

1119
01:03:51,960 --> 01:03:54,000
Speaker 1: These things opens.

1120
01:03:53,760 --> 01:03:59,400
Speaker 2: Doors to more desolations, more harm, and lack of foresight

1121
01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:03,440
Speaker 2: resistance to it because every time we do it's shut

1122
01:04:03,480 --> 01:04:06,000
Speaker 2: down by people like Governor Newsom and others like, well,

1123
01:04:06,160 --> 01:04:08,240
Speaker 2: you can't just have them on the street, or it's

1124
01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:10,440
Speaker 2: unaccountable to have them on the street. Of course, you know,

1125
01:04:10,520 --> 01:04:13,400
Speaker 2: if they are on the street, it's not like that's,

1126
01:04:13,480 --> 01:04:16,040
Speaker 2: you know, a great ideal thing. But let's be clear,

1127
01:04:16,440 --> 01:04:18,959
Speaker 2: I chose to be in a place where I could

1128
01:04:18,960 --> 01:04:24,200
Speaker 2: control and have agency in my own ability to navigate houselessness.

1129
01:04:24,400 --> 01:04:27,200
Speaker 2: That's why people are on the street. It is not

1130
01:04:27,360 --> 01:04:30,400
Speaker 2: because it's the coolest thing to do. But if you

1131
01:04:30,520 --> 01:04:33,240
Speaker 2: have given a choice where you have demonized and make

1132
01:04:33,320 --> 01:04:36,920
Speaker 2: it so harsh and so carsoro, of course we're not

1133
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:39,160
Speaker 2: going to No human being is going to do it.

1134
01:04:39,200 --> 01:04:43,560
Speaker 2: And that's the conflicting statements that they always diminish or

1135
01:04:43,600 --> 01:04:47,160
Speaker 2: downplay in the in the conversation. So returning back to

1136
01:04:47,200 --> 01:04:51,600
Speaker 2: the conversation, here, have they final formally did the eviction

1137
01:04:51,720 --> 01:04:53,840
Speaker 2: because I knew that you guys were in limbo, have

1138
01:04:53,920 --> 01:04:56,400
Speaker 2: they nailed down on land of the date that you guys,

1139
01:04:56,520 --> 01:04:58,480
Speaker 2: guys got to leave or what's going on.

1140
01:04:59,320 --> 01:05:00,360
Speaker 5: Well, but.

1141
01:05:01,840 --> 01:05:06,439
Speaker 8: One person here that's a part of the corridor has

1142
01:05:07,400 --> 01:05:11,720
Speaker 8: also an eviction court day coming up. I believe it's

1143
01:05:11,760 --> 01:05:17,280
Speaker 8: November seventh, and so after that we're going to get

1144
01:05:17,760 --> 01:05:22,240
Speaker 8: not only her but other people having eviction dates. We're

1145
01:05:22,320 --> 01:05:24,080
Speaker 8: trying to get it to go to trial so we

1146
01:05:24,120 --> 01:05:28,640
Speaker 8: could have a little possibility to fight because it's not

1147
01:05:28,720 --> 01:05:34,200
Speaker 8: an open and shut case right here. We have reasons

1148
01:05:34,280 --> 01:05:40,200
Speaker 8: why we had to felt forced under like duress to

1149
01:05:40,440 --> 01:05:45,760
Speaker 8: like sign these contracts. We also feel that it's necessary

1150
01:05:45,880 --> 01:05:50,480
Speaker 8: that we do create programs or I feel it's necessary

1151
01:05:50,520 --> 01:05:53,120
Speaker 8: that we create programs that are led by the people

1152
01:05:53,120 --> 01:05:57,200
Speaker 8: that are most impacted, whether it be rental or it

1153
01:05:57,280 --> 01:06:01,160
Speaker 8: could be like transferred to Alantras, but where we have

1154
01:06:01,280 --> 01:06:05,720
Speaker 8: agency on what happens with our lives and with housing

1155
01:06:06,480 --> 01:06:10,160
Speaker 8: people in general. Like it shouldn't just be these agencies

1156
01:06:10,200 --> 01:06:12,840
Speaker 8: that are out of touch with people, but like it

1157
01:06:12,840 --> 01:06:16,120
Speaker 8: should be led by people that are on house or

1158
01:06:16,200 --> 01:06:21,360
Speaker 8: in need of housing, because these programs are definitely not working.

1159
01:06:22,400 --> 01:06:25,480
Speaker 2: I think what really inspires people that have been displaced

1160
01:06:25,560 --> 01:06:29,640
Speaker 2: or experienced houselessness is the fact that for me, it's

1161
01:06:29,680 --> 01:06:33,480
Speaker 2: the curcial and hostility that is bestowed upon unhoused people.

1162
01:06:33,760 --> 01:06:35,400
Speaker 2: And I think that's one of the reasons one of

1163
01:06:35,400 --> 01:06:38,120
Speaker 2: the few things that will have to change will have

1164
01:06:38,200 --> 01:06:42,400
Speaker 2: to either, you know, there'll be more training removal of people,

1165
01:06:42,720 --> 01:06:45,800
Speaker 2: because then there's the conversation of people that are employee

1166
01:06:45,840 --> 01:06:49,440
Speaker 2: fare that are burned out because they are being overburdened

1167
01:06:49,560 --> 01:06:53,040
Speaker 2: or poorly paid as well. That conversation needs to be

1168
01:06:53,080 --> 01:06:57,360
Speaker 2: had because there's conflicting conversations. One, you don't want to

1169
01:06:57,400 --> 01:07:00,960
Speaker 2: see people you know, have a livable wage unless you're

1170
01:07:00,960 --> 01:07:04,160
Speaker 2: getting a livable wage. Or you have people that are

1171
01:07:04,160 --> 01:07:06,400
Speaker 2: living so high on the hall, that are up in

1172
01:07:06,400 --> 01:07:08,800
Speaker 2: the upper management and the people that are on the

1173
01:07:09,160 --> 01:07:12,400
Speaker 2: front lines, they can barely meet their own needs and

1174
01:07:12,440 --> 01:07:16,120
Speaker 2: their only way they're almost half of a remark or

1175
01:07:16,120 --> 01:07:17,800
Speaker 2: a half of rite up on their way out and

1176
01:07:17,840 --> 01:07:19,000
Speaker 2: be on the street themselves.

1177
01:07:19,360 --> 01:07:21,080
Speaker 1: So it turns it creates a game.

1178
01:07:21,080 --> 01:07:24,800
Speaker 2: When I say the investment of oppression, they will out

1179
01:07:25,320 --> 01:07:29,120
Speaker 2: do oppressive people because they want to keep their the

1180
01:07:29,200 --> 01:07:34,040
Speaker 2: little remaining job or stability or control in order to

1181
01:07:34,360 --> 01:07:38,640
Speaker 2: navigate their own life choices and life life experiences. So

1182
01:07:39,200 --> 01:07:42,560
Speaker 2: moving forward, they haven't nailed down yet that you guys

1183
01:07:42,560 --> 01:07:45,800
Speaker 2: got to leave, but it's better to be prepared. And

1184
01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:48,800
Speaker 2: so what what would be your future steps?

1185
01:07:49,840 --> 01:07:53,080
Speaker 8: I think for me it would just keep sharing my

1186
01:07:53,200 --> 01:07:57,760
Speaker 8: story and bring awareness to what's going on in in

1187
01:07:58,080 --> 01:08:01,760
Speaker 8: Los Angeles and pretty much all over the country that

1188
01:08:01,920 --> 01:08:06,200
Speaker 8: people are being criminalized for being on house. That on

1189
01:08:06,280 --> 01:08:11,560
Speaker 8: house people are to humanize that there are no solutions

1190
01:08:11,560 --> 01:08:16,720
Speaker 8: that meet the needs of people in general, and we

1191
01:08:16,800 --> 01:08:20,200
Speaker 8: need to do something else. We need to do something better.

1192
01:08:20,600 --> 01:08:24,599
Speaker 8: We need to provide permanent, stable housing for people so

1193
01:08:24,640 --> 01:08:28,720
Speaker 8: they could be able to heal and learn and you know,

1194
01:08:29,840 --> 01:08:30,559
Speaker 8: feel safe.

1195
01:08:31,280 --> 01:08:34,080
Speaker 2: How did your neighbors take it when you guys started

1196
01:08:34,080 --> 01:08:35,599
Speaker 2: to reclaim your home?

1197
01:08:36,120 --> 01:08:37,280
Speaker 1: Was the response, is it?

1198
01:08:37,880 --> 01:08:41,840
Speaker 8: Well, a lot of them did not agree because they

1199
01:08:42,080 --> 01:08:44,400
Speaker 8: thought there was like some sort of line or list

1200
01:08:45,280 --> 01:08:47,439
Speaker 8: for these homes, which is not true.

1201
01:08:48,120 --> 01:08:48,839
Speaker 1: That was false.

1202
01:08:49,080 --> 01:08:53,960
Speaker 8: And also yeah, mostly it was that that reason and

1203
01:08:54,040 --> 01:08:57,880
Speaker 8: that and we broke the law. But I am always

1204
01:08:58,200 --> 01:09:01,000
Speaker 8: the type that doesn't follow laws just because they're laws.

1205
01:09:01,040 --> 01:09:05,040
Speaker 8: But you know, like corny houses is a moral in

1206
01:09:05,080 --> 01:09:09,200
Speaker 8: my moral compass, it's really not breaking the law when

1207
01:09:09,320 --> 01:09:14,719
Speaker 8: when you do something to uplift others. And so now

1208
01:09:15,040 --> 01:09:18,200
Speaker 8: some of them have changed their minds because we've proven

1209
01:09:18,240 --> 01:09:22,760
Speaker 8: that that whole list was of false information. Some of

1210
01:09:22,800 --> 01:09:25,880
Speaker 8: them may still think that that way, that there's like

1211
01:09:26,040 --> 01:09:28,960
Speaker 8: a bureaucracy or process you have to go through. But

1212
01:09:30,120 --> 01:09:33,919
Speaker 8: that is really to me, it's a mind bodeling. How

1213
01:09:34,520 --> 01:09:39,080
Speaker 8: how long it takes just to get like housing, and

1214
01:09:39,120 --> 01:09:42,559
Speaker 8: meanwhile there's like people that are suffering through that, and

1215
01:09:42,640 --> 01:09:44,960
Speaker 8: so like, I don't think it should be that complicated.

1216
01:09:45,000 --> 01:09:48,519
Speaker 8: Once we took these houses, path showed up and created

1217
01:09:48,560 --> 01:09:52,640
Speaker 8: a contract and you know, made it work. So I

1218
01:09:52,760 --> 01:09:55,719
Speaker 8: just feel like you could do the same again, create

1219
01:09:55,800 --> 01:09:58,559
Speaker 8: some other program and figure out a way where we

1220
01:09:58,640 --> 01:09:59,559
Speaker 8: can stay housed.

1221
01:10:00,240 --> 01:10:00,400
Speaker 4: Well.

1222
01:10:00,640 --> 01:10:05,280
Speaker 2: Recently, Governor Newsom has awarded Los Angeles over eleven million

1223
01:10:05,360 --> 01:10:09,920
Speaker 2: dollars in the Encampment Resolution Fund. And what this is

1224
01:10:09,920 --> 01:10:14,440
Speaker 2: is their idea of throwing money at the problem, awarding

1225
01:10:15,080 --> 01:10:18,680
Speaker 2: cities after Grant's passes, ruling to who is going to

1226
01:10:18,760 --> 01:10:22,759
Speaker 2: outdo each other and removing the encampments and the house

1227
01:10:22,800 --> 01:10:25,920
Speaker 2: displaced community members. And one possible solution to you and

1228
01:10:25,960 --> 01:10:30,240
Speaker 2: I earlier discussed is the fact that I believe you

1229
01:10:30,520 --> 01:10:33,200
Speaker 2: instead of having to go through all of this laborious

1230
01:10:33,439 --> 01:10:36,720
Speaker 2: processes to evict you, using some of the money to

1231
01:10:36,800 --> 01:10:39,840
Speaker 2: keep you in the place. Because this is an easy win,

1232
01:10:40,080 --> 01:10:42,559
Speaker 2: This is an easy success. All you have to do

1233
01:10:42,760 --> 01:10:46,760
Speaker 2: is you allow them to pay what it's necessary to

1234
01:10:46,840 --> 01:10:49,760
Speaker 2: keep up the place and keep you in and using

1235
01:10:49,800 --> 01:10:52,559
Speaker 2: the money to show us success. Well, here is a

1236
01:10:52,600 --> 01:10:56,120
Speaker 2: permanently house person. We don't have to reinvent the wheel.

1237
01:10:56,120 --> 01:10:57,840
Speaker 2: We don't have to put them in a temporary solution.

1238
01:10:58,040 --> 01:10:59,720
Speaker 2: We don't have to send them to some far from

1239
01:10:59,760 --> 01:11:03,800
Speaker 2: place in the hubble the community that they need. They're

1240
01:11:03,800 --> 01:11:07,920
Speaker 2: getting the services that they need. Why cause more trauma

1241
01:11:08,040 --> 01:11:10,599
Speaker 2: and displacement? And that's the question that I have. Why

1242
01:11:10,600 --> 01:11:13,600
Speaker 2: would you even agree with that? You know, it's just

1243
01:11:13,680 --> 01:11:16,719
Speaker 2: take the money that you have and now help people

1244
01:11:16,760 --> 01:11:19,320
Speaker 2: that are in places that they're satisfied with and they've

1245
01:11:19,360 --> 01:11:21,880
Speaker 2: asked you to keep in. And if we want to

1246
01:11:21,920 --> 01:11:24,599
Speaker 2: listen to the Agency of Unhoused People, I think that's

1247
01:11:24,600 --> 01:11:28,960
Speaker 2: a reasonable thing. But you know, I apparently and house people,

1248
01:11:29,080 --> 01:11:32,519
Speaker 2: and the message it's been that we don't have a voice,

1249
01:11:32,600 --> 01:11:35,200
Speaker 2: or we don't have any say, we should accept the

1250
01:11:35,240 --> 01:11:36,360
Speaker 2: lot that we're handed.

1251
01:11:36,880 --> 01:11:38,599
Speaker 1: Am I off the mark on this No.

1252
01:11:39,080 --> 01:11:43,080
Speaker 8: You're absolutely correct. They think we could just accept anything

1253
01:11:43,920 --> 01:11:47,000
Speaker 8: and it's okay to move us around and displace us.

1254
01:11:47,560 --> 01:11:51,599
Speaker 8: And they don't understand, Yeah, because we're dehumanized so much

1255
01:11:52,240 --> 01:11:55,439
Speaker 8: like they wouldn't want to do that for themselves or

1256
01:11:55,439 --> 01:11:58,679
Speaker 8: for their own families. I don't think. So people need

1257
01:11:58,720 --> 01:12:02,519
Speaker 8: to realize that we build community where we stay. We

1258
01:12:02,680 --> 01:12:07,160
Speaker 8: have homes here, and not just homes, but like schools,

1259
01:12:07,640 --> 01:12:12,719
Speaker 8: we have specific doctors that we need that are here,

1260
01:12:13,160 --> 01:12:18,360
Speaker 8: and so displacing us, especially children, I feel like they

1261
01:12:18,720 --> 01:12:21,240
Speaker 8: are in need of a lot more structure, and once

1262
01:12:21,280 --> 01:12:26,000
Speaker 8: that's broken, it's really chaotic and it's difficult to figure

1263
01:12:26,040 --> 01:12:29,400
Speaker 8: out even how to make friends. And so why would

1264
01:12:29,400 --> 01:12:31,960
Speaker 8: you do that to somebody? I don't understand the logic.

1265
01:12:32,080 --> 01:12:35,200
Speaker 8: I really don't, and it's really frustrating, and I think

1266
01:12:35,920 --> 01:12:39,240
Speaker 8: we have to work really hard just to humanize ourselves

1267
01:12:39,280 --> 01:12:42,240
Speaker 8: to people in these agencies in order for us to

1268
01:12:42,400 --> 01:12:45,559
Speaker 8: even listen to us. And even then they'll they'll just

1269
01:12:45,600 --> 01:12:47,240
Speaker 8: say I'm sorry and move on.

1270
01:12:48,160 --> 01:12:50,880
Speaker 1: Also, I believe you're in school, is that correct?

1271
01:12:51,200 --> 01:12:54,200
Speaker 8: Yes, I'm in grad school right now, and I work

1272
01:12:54,240 --> 01:12:58,360
Speaker 8: part time, so I'm in grad school full time, trying

1273
01:12:58,360 --> 01:13:02,080
Speaker 8: to finish that degree so I could have better opportunities

1274
01:13:02,160 --> 01:13:05,080
Speaker 8: to maybe get a better paying job. So these are

1275
01:13:05,160 --> 01:13:09,519
Speaker 8: things that I'm working on. I know these homes have

1276
01:13:09,640 --> 01:13:13,640
Speaker 8: provided a lot of healing for many people, including myself,

1277
01:13:13,840 --> 01:13:17,960
Speaker 8: and so displacing us from this community would be really

1278
01:13:18,160 --> 01:13:21,839
Speaker 8: detrimental to our mental health, to our health in general.

1279
01:13:26,479 --> 01:13:29,320
Speaker 2: Thank you so much to Martha for her time. You

1280
01:13:29,360 --> 01:13:32,080
Speaker 2: can keep up with her on Instagram at Reclaiming Homes

1281
01:13:32,400 --> 01:13:36,000
Speaker 2: and donate to her eviction defense fund at the link

1282
01:13:36,040 --> 01:13:40,519
Speaker 2: in our description. And thank you for taking the time

1283
01:13:40,560 --> 01:13:45,040
Speaker 2: to listen, to learn, and hopefully make the world a

1284
01:13:45,120 --> 01:13:47,840
Speaker 2: better place than how we found it. If there is

1285
01:13:47,960 --> 01:13:51,400
Speaker 2: anything that the show wishes upon you, it is to

1286
01:13:51,439 --> 01:13:55,559
Speaker 2: meet again in the light of understanding. And as always,

1287
01:13:55,840 --> 01:13:58,080
Speaker 2: please like and subscribe, And if you would like to

1288
01:13:58,120 --> 01:14:00,720
Speaker 2: share your story on Weedian House, please reach out to

1289
01:14:00,760 --> 01:14:04,800
Speaker 2: me at wiedian Howse on Instagram or email me at

1290
01:14:04,800 --> 01:14:10,799
Speaker 2: widianhows at gmail dot com. Whedian Howes is a production

1291
01:14:10,880 --> 01:14:15,479
Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. It is written, posted, and created by me

1292
01:14:15,680 --> 01:14:22,960
Speaker 2: Theo Henderson. Our producers Jbie Loftus, Kailey Fager, Katieficial, and

1293
01:14:23,080 --> 01:14:27,360
Speaker 2: Lyra Smith. Our editor is Adam wand and our local

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Speaker 2: art is also by Katieficial.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.