'Indelible mark of shame': L.A. pivots to clearing homeless camps amid Covid surge, housing crisis

The crisis has only deepened over the years, moving beyond the borders of Skid Row and into gentrifying or affluent neighborhoods where tents clog sidewalks and unhoused people seek refuge in their cars.As the problem metastasizes, city officials have zeroed in on a new strategy to clear the unsightly encampments even as service providers warn there is not enough temporary or permanent housing for the region’s homeless population.“The policy of criminalizing homelessness has never worked,” said Georgia Berkovich, director of public affairs at The Midnight Mission, which offers emergency and social services to homeless people. He recently ran afoul of activists from Street Watch Los Angeles, an advocacy group linked to a local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, whom he accused of “bribing” unhoused people to remain on the streets.Members of the group deny the claims, and said in an emailed statement that the new anti-camping zones near Skid Row are "today’s version of the same racist ‘banish, criminalize, contain’ strategy used for decades.""Let’s be clear: these options are temporary and carceral, with no clear path to permanent housing on the horizon," the statement read in part.Council member Mike Bonin, who voted against the anti-camping ordinance, worries the city’s current strategy is more of a "Band-Aid" than a tonic.“The city is largely pivoting to solve the problem of encampments and not the problem of homelessness,” he said.“It’s a strategy born of very palpable anger and frustration,” he added.