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HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES () — Neighbors are raising concerns over a new tiny home community under construction in Hollywood. It’s supposed to be a transitional place to help the homeless, but neighbors worry it will bring more problems.
The sidewalks of a Hollywood block once overrun by encampments have remained clear for months. Now, neighbors say a new city-run transitional community under construction threatens to upend the security they’ve finally restored.
The new tiny home transitional community for the unhoused is being constructed at Sierra Vista Avenue and Oxford Avenue.
“There’s got to be a better place than plopping this place down here amongst the homes and renters. It’s a working-class neighborhood,” said Keith Johnson.
Each of the residents who spoke to Eyewitness News said the day Mayor Karen Bass and city colleagues showed up just two weeks ago for a groundbreaking ceremony was the day they found out the odd-shaped lot at the bend in the road is being transformed into a 51-unit tiny home transitional community for the unhoused.
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That day, Los Angeles City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez told Eyewitness News, “We door-knocked on over 700 doors. We had dozens of conversations, if not hundreds, and 80% of the folks that we talked to said they wanted to have this here. I think neighbors recognize encampments already exist in the area, and what they were asking from us is to bring more resources.”
“When I approached a couple of people from the city, they were trying to gaslight me,” said Michelle Guzman, who lives nearby. “He said, ‘Oh, I talked to you about this. We canvassed the neighborhood.’ I said, ‘I’ve never seen your face before. You never talked to me about this.'”
Guzman and her neighbors say they have navigated sprawling encampments, tents equipped with air conditioning units, solar panels and a hostile population for years.
“In my three years here, I’ve had my car vandalized, my motorcycle vandalized — residents had to move out because they were attacked by homeless,” said Miquel Cardenas.
7 On Your Side Investigates was there last August, when front-end loaders from Mayor Bass’ Inside Safe program carried away the encampments.
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Now, neighbors worry that the tiny home community will be a more permanent version.
“As many, many other people believe, it’s a mental health and an addiction problem. It is not a housing problem,” Stefanie Keenan said.
With the city’s homeless crisis at the center of a hotly contested mayoral race, the tiny home transitional development weighs heavily on this pocket of Hollywood voters.
“Is it going to affect who you’re going to vote for?” Eyewitness News Reporter Liz Nagy asked Guzman.
“Yes, definitely. But I also want a solution. I don’t want people to be treated badly. They’re humans,” she said.
Neighbors acknowledge that there’s little they can do to stop the construction that’s already underway.
A flyer from Soto-Martinez’s office promises the lot will be staffed 24/7 with security, and says the inside of the community will be a drug-free zone.
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