(mellow music)
- When it rains
there's a completely different Venice Beach
that most people don't see.
There's not tourists, there's not artists,
there's not occasional surfer, there's no scooters.
Mostly it's homeless people.
Homeless people don't have any place to go out here.
Can you imagine living in a tent?
And it's raining all day
and it's gonna rain for days here in Los Angeles.
Imagine living in a tent and you do not have resources
like refrigeration, wifi, a bathroom.
Homelessness isn't fun, it's not camping.
It's survival.
People are surviving out here on the streets
in the pouring rain.
Compared to the weekends .
when there's basically a circus out here in Venice.
- [Bystander] Yo, literally.
- Literally, literally,
I find Venice out in the rain kind of eerie,
kind of lonely, but heartbreaking.
There's hundreds of homeless people.
Right here, sleeping and they don't have any place to go.
This is homelessness.
In places like Skidrow, it's even more devastating
when the rain comes like it is this week.
We have to end homelessness.
We have to do something to get these people off the streets
into housing.
I mean if you don't have a heart of compassion,
as a tax payer, you're paying huge money
for people being out here.
Housing people saves lives and saves money.
We have to end homelessness.
Please, when it comes to policy change in your neighborhood
advocate, fight for more affordable housing.
Fight for more resources for homeless people.
We have to help these people.
We have to end homelessness.
It's not just the right thing to do,
it's the physically responsible thing to do.
(mellow music)
I don't see how anyone in Los Angeles can drive around
when it's raining and see all the homeless people
trying to survive.
If they're lucky in tents.
I mean everything gets wet out here
and you don't have a dryer to just go and
get normal again.
I've made many good friends out here in Venice
and it breaks my heart that Walter and his wife
are sleeping out here in a tent during this rain storm.
- Hi.
- [Mark] Hey, Walter.
My goodness, I am so sad you're out here in the rain.
- Well, there's a lot of other people out here in the rain.
There's a lot of things you gotta realize, you know.
Whether you're in a tent or not,
when you're out here and homeless, you gotta find a spot
that is dry, cause if you're not dry, you freeze.
Because the ground temperature that you're close to,
laying down is cooler.
Then when you add rain to that,
the body temperature goes down even further.
So, when you're cold, you're wet.
- [Mark] And everything gets wet.
- Yeah, everything gets wet and
your clothes get wet, you can freeze.
It's hard, it's hard on your mind.
It's hard on your bones, it's hard on your skin.
- [Mark] And it's gonna rain for days.
- And it's gonna be raining for days.
- [Mark] My heart breaks for you.
- My heart goes out for all of us.
- [Mark] Yeah.
(mellow music)
A homeless man was just walking by
and he's carrying a big piece of cardboard
and a suitcase and he just gave up.
Pretty much all you can do is the best you can to survive.
Some people try to make the best of it.
Here's my friend, Dakota.
Who I saw out skateboarding in the rain through the puddles.
Dakota, I just saw you skating through puddles.
- Yes.
- [Mark] You're having fun.
- I'm trying to, I'm already wet so I might as well
enjoy the moment, so.
- [Mark] It's gotta be horrible out here
when it's wet like this.
- It does, it does,
but that's why you try to make the best of it.
Go through puddles. (laughs)
- [Mark] Now, are you in a tent, or where are you staying?
- I recently had my tent stolen from me, thrown away,
one or the other, I don't know,
but it was recently taken from me,
so I've been seeking shelter in other people's tents.
- [Mark] Oh my gosh.
- Yeah and all my clothes are wet now,
so, it's like.
- [Mark] Everything gets wet out here.
- Yeah, might as well wait until tomorrow to get dry.
- [Mark] Well it's supposed to rain for a couple of days.
- I know, I know.
- [Mark] Oh my gosh.
- That's why I'm like, man.
(mellow music)
- Just recording an Instagram story
and here's my friend, Mark and I just adore Mark.
And he's always so nice and he calls me the preacher.
I tell him I'm not a preacher, but then he says,
but you pray real good.
Breaks my heart that he's
making a bed to sleep, but at least he's gonna stay dry.
Tell me about being in the rain here.
- Well, like being homeless, you know
rain, it's the worst time of the season for us, you know.
We have to take care our little stuff,
our things that we have and you know, most of all, you know,
we depend on the people who have things such as this.
Garages that they're not living in, not using,
or apartments that have garages and.
And you know we have to, you know,
have a certain standard by ourselves
and some of the people, you know most of the people,
they let us homeless people get by,
but we really do need some help out here in this world,
we need someone to come in and speak for us
and just go muster the money up
and put up some nice facility for us
and then let us do something for the community.
If we work eight hours a day-
- [Mark] Mark, you are so smart.
- And we'll just work free,
we'll pay for our houses.
We won't ask for many.
You just give us two or three hundreds out of the stamp-
- [Mark] You want out of this
- Yes, I want out of it.
- [Mark] One of the things I always get a kick out of
is you call me preacher.
And I tell you I'm not a preacher but then you say,
well, but you pray good, or you do good.
I'm not a preacher.
- But you come with that, you know how preachers come,
like come with that hard know, like,
oh Mark you can do this.
Now, you know I know you can do it.
Like you can clean the gutter, I'd be like
preacher, where is that guy so I can get him with me.
Well, I know, I know.
But you never say well, yeah.
I love you guys, you're most confident
and you're so cool.
- [Mark] You're awesome, Mark,
you stay dry, man.
- I'm trying, I'm trying, sure I am.
- [Mark] You stay dry. - Yes, sir.
(mellow music)
- No one in this great country of ours should be homeless.
We know how to end homelessness.
We've known for years.
The problem is we need public support to do it.
Please advocate for more affordable housing.
And please advocate for more support of housing.
And we need more support services.
We need to get these people off the streets.
Homelessness isn't a punishment for bad decisions.
If it was we'd all be homeless.
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