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LOS ANGELES () — They line both sides of the street and are the source of sewage, trash and crime. Abandoned and inoperable RVs have plagued Humboldt Street in Los Angeles for years, and frustration is so high, 7 On Your Side Investigates was called to get answers from city leaders.
“This is not OK,” said Stacy Vierheilig, who owns an industrial building on Humboldt Street that’s loaded with toys for underprivileged children, and the exterior walls are now loaded with security cameras.
Outside of the building, pools of wastewater come from the rows of RVs that plague the street and others in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood. According to Vierheilig, the RVs come with a whole host of crimes.
Just recently, cameras on her building captured a man slipping in and sneaking up to the roof, where he stole the copper wire out of Vierheilig’s air conditioner.
“We need help,” she told 7 On Your Side Investigates.
Vierheilig said the crime has become so rampant in the area that she’s had to fortify her building, and others are doing the same.
Many are now caging in their utilities to prevent metal theft, and chain link fences are being ripped open.
Gabriel Perez with St. Vincent de Paul, which has a massive thrift store right next to Vierheilig’s building, says break-ins happen almost every night. Because of the drugs and prostitution that Perez says he is seeing, he worries for his employees and thrift store customers who walk down Humbolt Street.
They often walk right in the middle of the street since the RVs can overtake the sidewalk.
“For every dollar we have spent on patchwork, on security, on providing a safe, secure health environment to work in and to shop in, we are taking away from our mission to serve those in need,” said Perez.
Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who represents that part of the city, told Eyewitness News that her office is working on the issue and said it’s one of their top priorities.
Just a few weeks ago, Hernandez voted against moving forward with a new state law that will allow the city to remove more of those RVs.
The current law only allows RVs valued at $500 or less to me moved. The new law changes that threshold to $4,000.
“The reason I did, I voted against that, was because I have met with people on the ground, community members living in these RVs,” she said. “I just didn’t want to give constituents the false hope that this is going to be the game changer around RVs in our city.”
The councilmember said what may change the game and get the RVs out of the neighborhood is the funding she’s secured for more beds for the homeless.
“I don’t have a timeline for when those RVs will not be on that street, but what I will say is that we are exploring other places where we can have RVs that are not impacting the community,” she said.
But until that happens, the fortification of those doing business Humboldt Street continues. Vierheilig just installed a new iron fence around her property and Perez says St. Vincent de Paul will be doing the same.
Even though Hernandez voted against the resolution, it still passed.
Right now, the city is figuring out how it will implement the new law, which goes into effect next year.
Mayor Karen Bass’s office told Eyewitness News it looks forward to implementing the law, which it calls a “vital tool to address RV encampments across Los Angeles.”
The mayor’s office sent 7 a statement saying, in part, “This effort demonstrates Mayor Bass’ work to break with the status quo that allowed the homelessness crisis to worsen over decades.”
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