Readers React: The city’s shameful action against ‘tiny houses’ for homeless people

To the editor: I have never been so disgusted with the city’s response to homelessness as when I read about the eviction of individuals from their “tiny houses.” (“L.A. is seizing tiny homes from the homeless,” Feb. 25)

After no meaningful city action for decades, South Los Angeles musician Elvis Summers has built and provided homeless individuals with small structures that have solar-powered lights and a locking front door. The city’s response to Summers: Remove the houses or we’ll destroy them.

A city official says these homes pose health and safety risks. Since when was living with a locked front door more dangerous than living on the streets?

The city should appreciate what Summers has done to give people dignified shelter. City agencies should work with him to find land where tiny houses could be placed, providing porta-potties for minimal sanitation, and allow those who were evicted to move back into their homes.

Patricia Greenfield, Venice

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To the editor: One of these tiny houses was parked just up the street from my house for a few months. I liked it at first, until the tiny house (just a wooden box, really) was used only to store stuff and the homeless encampment grew and grew.

Homeless people’s dogs were chained to the home, terrorizing passersby. Piles of trash appeared. The human and dog waste stunk, and broken glass littered the sidewalk. These were not good neighbors.

I wouldn’t tolerate this kind of behavior from a homeowning neighbor, and I sure as heck don’t want to tolerate it from someone camping on my street. Though perhaps well-meaning, Summers and his supporters did not produce a well thought-out plan.

Judge me when an encampment parks in front of your house.

Joselle Celine Gilvezan, Sherman Oaks

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To the editor: I am so tired of hearing the empty promises of public officials to find permanent housing for our homeless population on the one hand, while kowtowing to developers who are building ever larger and ever less affordable housing in our city on the other.

If the city believes that the dignity of having your own, however humble, space is more hazardous than living in lean-tos on the streets — exposed to the elements and God knows what other dangers — and if it thinks squeezing people into crowded homeless shelters akin to livestock feedlots is a better solution than Summers’ lovely, cheery, tiny houses, it is clear that some deep soul-searching is in order.

Yvette Davis, Los Angeles

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