Each night tens of thousands of people sleep in tent cities
crowding the palm-lined boulevards of Los Angeles.
But a struggling musician from South LA thought he had a creative temporary fix.
He crowdfunded $100,000 and built dozens of solar-Powered tiny houses to shelter the homeless.
But on the morning city officials were gathering to celebrate their new nearly two billion dollar plan to end homelessness,
Police and garbage crews were descending on the tiny homes, ordered by the city to seize and destroy them.
Los Angeles emergency in the country's second-largest city-
-problem that's spinning out of control-
-reaching crisis proportions-
-they're in a shelter crisis as the city is overwhelmed by a spike in the homeless population-
-homeless camps are seen everywhere-
-he's been living on the sidewalk here for the past 30 years-
-what is behind this homeless crisis in LA?
Here in the entertainment capital of the world over half [the] homeless population will sleep on the streets tonight far more than in any other
American City there are
28,000 homeless people in just the city of Los Angeles and the number has hit new record highs in [each] of the past Few years
But La Mayor Eric garcetti has a plan this is a bold step forward today for Los angeles
a year ago
I'll be blunt
The City Council the Mayor weren't working together on this
Garcetti
Introduced a funding proposal in February that would devote nearly two billion dollars over the [next] decade to getting all La residents off the streets
once and for all but at the time of Garcetti s announcement dozens of homeless people had already found shelter in the form of
Solar-Powered tiny houses dispersed throughout the neighborhoods of south La and Beyond in Los Angeles a growing movement
A big impact it's an innovative effort to help the homeless giving homes to the homeless
They were built by a self-described struggling musician named Elvis summers. I got involved with building tiny houses because of a woman named smokey
She's 62 years old. This is my neighborhood and as I got to know her
Realize that she [was] sleeping in the dirt
and
I decided to build [a] tiny house in his 20s [summers] was homeless for stretches of time
Himself now the 39 year old is trying to help his neighbors who have fallen on hard times [some] other
Homeless people came by and [asked] if I could build them one I didn't have the money so [I] figured you [try] one of these
Crowdfunding things I've seen out there. [I] mean blew my mind. [I] mean, I [think] I passed [50] thousand in the first week
Total I've raised you know over a hundred thousand [summers] has built tiny homes for nearly 40 people
aided by Professional contractors
And other volunteers who sign up to help through his nonprofit
starting human each house costs Roughly $1,200 for materials the houses I build
Have carpet two windows a steel reinforced door smoke detector
it's got a solar panel on the roof powers two light bulbs and
The battery Pack has a uSb port on it to charge your cell [phone]. Which is huge [and] address
American flag Summers also equips each of the six by ten foot houses with a camping toilet and even window alarms
He says they were never meant to be a permanent solution
But unlike sleeping on the sidewalk or in a ten his tiny houses provide the secure foundation residents need to improve their lives
You know the tiny houses?
Provide immediate shelter you know the houses I build a very sturdy and safe
[people] can lock their stuff up and know that when they come back from their
Drug treatment program or a court or finding a job all day that this stuff is where they left it? I got my resume
My showers no were to not be homeless want to order pizza tomorrowland home
But as summers was building houses anger in the community [over] growing street homelessness was reaching a boiling point early this year
These homes was nothing more than a detriment to mine in my neighbors homes families [in] children
And they created a sense of terror in the residents nestled within Dour tent Shanty towns
Summerses tiny houses became brightly colored targets for residents who want the homeless out of their backyards?
They had the children walking in the middle of the street and not on the curbside when they're going over the [overpasses]
Most of summerses tiny houses were placed on private land
That's been donated to the project
Such as a parking lot outside a convenience store in a church in Compton a handful replaced the tents that have proliferated on freeway overpasses
They're not right in front of a business
[they're] not in you know in front of somebody's house
And the Sidewalks are extra wide
so you know it seemed as far as public places the safest best place to be until I could get land and
Then take them and put them on on property building a small community
but La viewed the houses as a nuisance [in]
February the City Council Amended a sweeps ordinance to allow the tiny houses to be seized without prior notice
On the morning of the ninth police and garbage trucks descended telling three of the houses to a [bureau]
Sanitation lot for disposal my phone just blows up by everybody on
42nd Street, just freaking out like they're throwing us out of the houses they're telling us
They're taking them like what do we do?
I mean, they wouldn't let them get their clothes or their medications they threw them out left them on the sidewalk
I pleaded with them. I was like okay. We'll look they have wheel locks on them
Let me unlock the wheels at least you know so you don't break them
No
They refused they just wanted to take them and destroy summers managed to move eight of the threatened houses into storage before they were
Confiscated but their residents had nowhere to go I had to evict to veterans who paid their ticket
they shouldn't be homeless period
[you] know I get angry they did their service
They gave up their dreams
So the rest of us can be out here and be a bunch of assholes
You [know] there needs to be some respect our community was so negatively impacted by these structures that many of us come together
To get them removed we call Councilman prices office because we needed him to do something about it
I don't think living in that box is the alternative to having some
Housing current price is the La City Councilman who represents the district where the houses were located and who ordered the seizures?
Might have been objections to the timely houses everyone call them houses it really just box. They're multicolored boxes. Is that they're safe
They're not safe and that they impose real hazards for
Other neighbors in the community people in neighborhoods that are concerned about all of that [their] property values and you know
Tiny houses and homeless people in their neighborhood have every right period To be pissed off and I completely agree with them
but
you know
You're misdirecting your anger [direct] [it] to the powers [that] be that are supposed to be doing their job
My whole issue and cause is that something needs to be done right now until permanent housing does come available?
I think just just a temporary fix is a false sense of security
[as] would the
Timbi without any real supportive services
But two homeless people who had escaped tents and moved into the tiny homes the security they provided seemed anything
But false after [the] City's sweep they were forced once again to call the sidewalk home
I've been home is like two years
One of the guys willie who's an engineer?
Who I gave the [red] house to he used to have it right [here] in the house
You feel secure [could] you we plugged your lucky door?
After willie had Knotts house was seized by the city. He went back to living in a tent above the 110 freeway
I [tried] to cover it up
You know as much as I can but hey
At the as he taken cut it with a razor blades much much kid you have it all?
You know it's coming. You know that they really don't care for you too much
They said first thing officer told me he said well, go get a job [my] second. You help me good one
I'm willing to work. It's not really all in little jobs map it Eli Harold
[go]
Willie is
An Ex engineer, he loves kids he loves
Tinkering with things and I have a little [a] [little]
Platform like [a] [little] [stands] for that I [build] to put this on it
That's a little wood toy a man, but you know some kid with a lot of hats man, and I got this out of duster
Which I really don't like say, but I do go dumpster diving, okay?
a few days after I gave him his house he pulled me aside and
basically did I mean he just told me that like he was so low and
There's just no hope and he basically was just used given up, and he was contemplating ending his life
Finally getting hope there's a chance. You know maybe I can turn this around and then
Just you know
Having someone come and suck it away from you
It's horrible, [I] put a lot into it
You don't saying [I'm] not saying I wanted a lot back, but I I was [securing] what I had my little house, man
My little houses made the world for me, and it still means the world to me
We've offered housing to individuals who are [willing] to come in and you know frequently the responses
Well, I don't want to go to the shelter. I just want to stay here on the street
There are a fraction of shelter space [to] how many people are homeless, but otherwise the shelters are dirty
It's dangerous in there the food is not good. It's got bedbugs
You can't go with a girlfriend pets or any of your personal items that let's suggesting that the shelters are the answer?
[that] [obviously] is a temporary step of an alternative step
I think it's a better step you know than someone sleeping on the sidewalk under a bench or on a bitch
[I] think the way you make it better is having some kind of coordinated services
[you] know where you can refer people to the kind of assistance
They need as opposed to giving them a structure letting them think that they've got it there
Okay now because they had a little they're sitting in a little box and it their problems are gonna be solved you you go out
And spend you know
many nights on the street and be treated as a Monster and
Then be given. You know a warm place [to] [stay] and tell me you're not going to call it a home
when the city took those three houses
They chose to do it at the exact same time that the council in the Mayor were at City Hall
unveiling the Mayor's new Homeless
1.8 [7] billion Dollar plan this is an important policy statement
And I think it's going to provide it with a road [map] in a variety of areas
We are beginning to make a difference
[and] a difference that is long overdue we've identified some some action items
Working closely with the county and so we're working really in collaboration ways that we happen before
We have identified and need to come some funds a specific number some funding for prolonged period of time
Everything that they have been doing and you know doesn't work. It's just years of circles, and you know
bureaucratic holds and wait times and you know like I
Would like them to care
10 20 30 40 years I mean
water salt house
Mayor Garcetti [z'] plan focuses on permanent supportive housing aiming to build 10,000 units for homeless families over the next decade
But in the meantime La is taking funds away from temporary shelters the tiny houses are you know a cheap?
effective immediate step and as long as they are
You know managed in small communities
That would be best. I've almost completed my first mobile shower unit
which
super excited to get done
currently
Los Angeles Owns thousands of Vacant lots that could provide locations for micro housing villages like those that already exist in Several other cities
including Portland, Seattle, Austin and elsewhere
I mean, not only they could open a few up that have been sitting there for decades that we could build communities on but
Open up a warehouse and stop chastising the homeless for collecting
The good citizens garbage encourage them give them a job doing it well. We're trying. We're trying to come up some solutions
You know we're looking at letting people
Stay in the parking lots for example
you know the publicity the veteran vehicles the parking parking labs perhaps that could be a good location for
tents for for other types of temporary shelters in May Following National media attention
Los Angeles returned the tiny houses it had seized with their solar power systems missing on the condition that summers placed them only
Property as for Mayor garcetti in the City council
They scored a success on the november ballot as [la] voters approved a 1.2 billion dollar bond measure to partially fund new permanent housing construction
Exactly a decade after the City's first ten-year plan to end homelessness withered in 2006
Every Angelino deserves a safe place to sleep at night the Mayor's office says that though the city appreciates citizens creative solutions to end homelessness
[he] does not support opening a surplus [slot] for Elvis Summers or other tiny house Village
Concepts until the City has some more time to study the issue business as usual for me. I'm going to keep building
I'm going to keep helping these people this can all change. [I] mean if people want a beautiful
Positive Community You have to build one
You can't just you know sweep stuff under the rug and pretend. It doesn't exist [if] I you know can't
Get through to the city to open their minds to actually give a crap about what's going on
you know to the people of our city and
Create change with me
You know I'll do it myself then and with all the support that I do get and everybody that doesn't want to come and contribute
I'll get private land we'll build small communities. We'll save these people's lives
I've got a walking along
I have a friend right here. [I] do have that