encampments

The fire that broke out on Franklin Avenue last month was, by some measures, a modest one.But with winds blowing in the Cahuenga Pass that night, it had the potential to be destructive. Embers from the fire, which started at a homeless encampment, landed on a nearby apartment building, Fire Department officials said. By the time the blaze was out, it had scorched a nearby tree, destroyed two cars and sent smoke into nearby homes.“It smelled like burning fuel, burning plastic,” said one Hollywood resident who lives…

WASHINGTON —  The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether homeless people have a constitutional right to camp on public property when they have no other place to sleep. Acting on appeals from city officials in California and the West, the court will review decisions of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which held it was cruel and unusual punishment for cities to deny homeless people a place to sleep.As a result of the 9th Circuit rulings, public officials in California and the eight other Western states under…

For five nights, Melissa Grady refused to sleep. She told me this on a recent afternoon, rubbing her eyes with blackened hands, while trying to ignore the burned husk of twisted metal that barely resembled the RV she had been sharing with her boyfriend, Woody Akiedis.No one knows for sure how it started, but over Presidents Day weekend, a fire engulfed their metal home, melting its tires to the pavement and sending a plume of dark smoke billowing over the Ballona Wetlands, Playa Vista and Playa del Rey. Grady, who had…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain This summer, homeless encampments in cities such as Vancouver and Los Angeles and others were dismantled. The reasons varied. In Vancouver, it was…