Thread by @jelenawoehr

When you hear that an unhoused person “refused services” that includes...

- refused to give up their pet to get a short-term hotel room
- the shelter they were offered a space in isn’t safe for their gender/sexuality
- couldn’t consolidate all their belongings into two bags

People will literally be classified as “offered housing but declined” if they have tools for a job they do when they can and didn’t want to leave all their tools in a public park to be stolen just to get a hotel room worth less than the cost of re-buying all those tools

There are some private organizations like @selahnhc (I heard this information from one of their volunteers on his podcast) that help with storage but with all the money taxpayers voted for housing services LA still doesn’t own a storage facility for people’s belongings

Imagine that you have been living in a 4-person sized tent + using some outdoor space for storage.

You have with you everything that’s left from the apartment you lost four months ago.

You can get a hotel for a month but you can only bring two garbage bags worth of your stuff.

I guarantee for the majority of people currently in tents, temporary housing that will likely not lead to permanent housing (only about 15% of those leaving shelters leave for permanent housing) is not worth more than losing all their winter clothes, sleeping bags, bicycles...

People like to claim the main reason folks say no to shelters or other temporary housing is “no drugs or alcohol” but

1) there’s absolutely drugs and alcohol in the shelter (and that’s why some recovering people stay away)

2) it’s way more likely to be “can’t keep my stuff”

My first Labor Day in LA I skated with a recovering addict who had just left jail w/ no housing plan and they wouldn’t even keep him in jail one extra day AT HIS REQUEST so he could get out on a workday instead of a holiday so he could call his social worker about making a plan

That is the level of giving a shit about individuals’ individual needs we are dealing with in city government right now.

Action alert for folks reading this thread and understanding why people may stay in parks for really understandable reasons!!!

If you’re in L.A. and can safely show up, do. If not, share & and tell @MitchOFarrell SERVICES NOT SWEEPS! mailto:[e-mail]

If you can pick up the phone too, here’s the number and a script for what to say. (Please listen to the organizations leading this and stay on their talking points, our LA council members are assholes and these organizations are experienced at handling them.)

Full toolkit on how to help including a tweet storm today, let’s make the whole world aware that @MitchOFarrell is exactly what this thread is about—someone who thinks an unsafe shelter bed and two garbage bags of clothes is all a human being in need deserves.

Here's exactly what I'm talking about happening in real time.

This man is being forced to leave Echo Park, but he cannot transport his personal items in one trip. Police will not let him re-enter after he leaves to retrieve the rest.