Photos: Freeways: A refuge for the homeless

Alena, 45, cleans herself along Main Street where she lives in a tent with many other homeless above the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. “I’m new to this unexpected homelessness,” she said. She was laid off from her job as an administrative assistant this year.

Homeless people reside above and below the 110 Freeway on the 42nd Street overpass in downtown Los Angeles.

A homeless man pushes his belongings on Spring Street over the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.

A jogger runs past a row of homeless tents on Los Angeles Street above the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.

A tent for a homeless person rests along Aliso Street while a man walks his dog along Los Angeles Street above the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.

Reynaldo Ganon, Jr., 36, walks past some of his belongings along Arcadia Street above the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. He has been homeless for the last three months after losing his job.

A homeless man pushes his belongings in a shopping cart past a homeless encampment on the 42nd Street overpass above the 110 Freeway in Los Angeles.

A homeless man walks with his blankets and belongings along Main Street where many homeless have pitched tents over the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.

Willie Hadnot, 59, lives in this small structure along the 110 Freeway on Sout Flower Street near the 42nd Street overpass in Los Angeles. Hadnot, who has been homeless for two years, has been living in this structure for two months. Elvis Summers builds tiny houses for members of Los Angeles’ homeless community.