Marina Solano’s grocery retailer in South Los Angeles enjoys regular enterprise promoting freshly made tortillas and a wide range of produce like oranges, avocados and tomatoes to the closely Latino group.
However the continued presence of homeless encampments on the streets surrounding El Mexicano Market has pressured Solano to board up her storefront and rent additional safety to guard her enterprise, her workers and her clients.
“We’re extraordinarily affected by the homeless. Is nobody going to assist us?” she mentioned. “It appears they’ve extra rights than we do.”
Juan Morales, a safety guard on the market, witnessed the issue develop during the last three years he has labored for Solano.
“The homeless have threatened to burn the market,” Morales mentioned. “And so they say we will’t do something about it. The supervisor has struggled lots together with her enterprise as a result of she must pay us to guard this place in a single day.”
Marina Solano’s grocery retailer, El Mexicano Market, sits alongside the 6600 block of Avalon Boulevard within the neighborhood of Florence.
(Gary Coronado / For The Instances)
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass just lately lifted town’s state of emergency on homelessness, noting that the variety of unhoused individuals decreased considerably within the final two years. That declaration allowed the mayor’s workplace “to take daring and swift motion” to expedite inexpensive housing, she mentioned in an announcement earlier this month.
“Let me be clear: the disaster stays, and so does our urgency,” she mentioned. “Day by day, we are going to proceed to be on the streets, participating with individuals dwelling in encampments and RVs, bringing individuals Inside Protected, and restoring neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles.”
However for South L.A. retailers and residents, particularly locally of Florence, town’s efforts have performed little to curb the cussed homelessness downside on their streets.
The homelessness disaster is nothing new to Los Angeles, and efforts through the years to deal with it have had blended outcomes. Whereas metropolis officers rejoice successes in clearing homeless encampments in different components of Los Angeles, resident and retailers in Florence say extra must be performed of their group.
Solano is considered one of a number of enterprise homeowners in Florence who complain that they’ve been impacted by the “endless” presence of homeless encampments. The market and two of Solano’s warehouses are situated between Gage and Florence avenues, a few half-mile radius from encampments the place a number of unhoused individuals dwell of their tents, automobiles or RVs.
Dana Kanu, 63, who’s homeless, proven together with her canine Zara at her encampment alongside the 7000 block of Avalon Boulevard. This encampment stretches from Gage Avenue to Florence Avenue.
(Gary Coronado / For The Instances)
The streets are unwalkable and stuffed with trash, and the odor is “insufferable,” residents say.
“I do know this doesn’t simply have an effect on me. [Homelessness] is unfold all through South L.A., in the event you go to downtown L.A. they’re hidden in between companies or by the L.A. River. However sadly right here, they’re close to houses,” Solano mentioned.
A center college, public park and financial institution are all inside strolling distance of the encampment. However some residents say they don’t really feel secure strolling to such locations, with sidewalk tents encroaching on bus stops, bike lanes and roadways.
“I’ve lived right here for about eight years and it appears they solely like [Avalon Boulevard],” a girl, who declined to determine herself, mentioned whereas she waited for the bus together with her two younger youngsters. “When you discover, the issue is just between Gage and Florence.”
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual depend by the Los Angeles Homeless Providers Authority estimated that about 41,290 individuals have been thought of homeless, with about 30% dwelling in shelters. In 2025, the variety of individuals dwelling on the streets of Los Angeles dropped to 26,972.
Bass added that the emergency declaration resulted in “Los Angeles’ first-ever two consecutive years of discount in homelessness, together with a 17% drop in road homelessness.”
Metropolis officers say they’ve additionally launched focused efforts to deal with the homelessness downside in South Los Angeles.
In Might, Councilmember Curren Value, whose district consists of a lot of South Los Angeles, teamed up with Bass to launch an Inside Protected operation on Avalon Boulevard that housed 32 individuals, and of these, seven have returned to the streets, per metropolis figures.
“A key part of Inside Protected is the constant monitoring of former operation websites to carry much more Angelenos inside if encampments return and to work with companions to attach individuals to assets that may appropriately meet particular person wants,” the mayor’s workplace mentioned in an announcement this week.
This program, nevertheless, requires homeless individuals to voluntarily settle for providers and let go of most of their private belongings. Since its 2022 inception, Inside Protected has moved greater than 5,000 individuals into interim housing, in response to a Instances report.
In an announcement to NBCLA, Value mentioned that “not everybody is able to settle for providers.”
Elihue “Shaba” Pitts Sr., 53, who’s homeless, considers himself the group organizer alongside the 7000 block of Avalon Boulevard.
(Gary Coronado / For The Instances)
Homeless residents like Elihue “Shaba” Pitts Sr. discover it arduous to “simply depart,” he mentioned.
Pitts lives on Avalon Boulevard, the place he maintains a small backyard to memorialize his son Omari Pitts, who was killed in a violent crash from a high-speed police chase in Fontana. Throughout the metropolis’s Cleansing and Fast Engagement, or CARE operations, Pitts’ belongings, together with his potted crops, have been eliminated.
“I begin from scratch,” the 53-year-old mentioned. “I’ve to. That is all I obtained.”
The final CARE operation on the Avalon hall befell on Halloween Day, in response to Value’s workplace.
“We attempt to have a peaceable relationship with the homeless, like giving them meals throughout Thanksgiving and holidays,” Solano mentioned. “However generally they wish to come and do no matter they need. We simply can’t permit that.”
John Maceri, chief government of The Individuals Concern, an L.A.-based non revenue social service company centered on ending homelessness, mentioned unhoused individuals might initially decline assets however that “relentless outreach” is important.
“When somebody says ‘no’ at the moment, it doesn’t imply ‘no’ endlessly,” Maceri mentioned. “It could take weeks, or months in some instances, to get somebody to conform to take the subsequent step. Some of us have been let down by the system they usually selected a location that feels acquainted to them.”
He added that packages like Inside Protected and L.A. County’s Pathway House “aren’t simply shifting individuals from one facet of the road and cleansing up the world.”
“The entire concept is that persons are related to housing and ongoing providers, which is a giant incentive for individuals to take part,” Maceri mentioned. “This can be a massive distinction [over] simply shifting encampments in order that the streets and sidewalk are clear.”
Metropolis crews have sanitized Gage Avenue and Avalon Boulevard in South Los Angeles greater than 20 instances simply this 12 months, in response to Value’s workplace. However residents say this isn’t sufficient.
Sanitation crews take away well being and security hazards and strong waste from the general public right-of-way, in response to town’s sanitation and atmosphere division.
Sometimes, when a clean-up operation is scheduled, unhoused persons are notified forward of time. As soon as notified, residents say, the homeless neighbors merely transfer briefly to close by residential streets.
A Florence resident who recognized herself solely as Cindy mentioned she has seen this downside since she first purchased her home a 12 months in the past.
“It has been a nightmare,” she mentioned. “This has been tremendous anxious. For a complete 12 months, my husband and I cleaned up all this trash. Positive, town tries to wash up the primary streets, however on the subject of the residential ones, they don’t do something about it.”
Rueben Acosta, 45, who’s homeless, washes down the road in entrance of his motorhome.
(Gary Coronado / For The Instances)
In accordance with metropolis road indicators, residential streets are scheduled for cleansing on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. However for residents like Cindy, trash decide up will not be constant.
Each week, Cindy and her husband energy wash the sidewalk in entrance of their residence and dump the trash they gather into their enterprise’ dumpster. However after some time, “I informed my husband no extra, this isn’t our job,” she mentioned.
The Bureau of Road Providers didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark as of Friday.
“We’re sustaining coordination with service suppliers and metropolis departments to make sure follow-up cleanups and pursue long-term options that promote stability, security and dignity for everybody concerned,” mentioned Angelina Valencia-Dumarot, a spokesperson for Value’s workplace. “Further coordinated operations are deliberate for early December.”
Some enterprise homeowners have taken it upon themselves to wash their facet of the road, making an attempt to protect the look of what was as soon as a bustling hall.
“I’ve been assaulted at gunpoint, and the police mentioned we will’t do something as a result of they didn’t shoot me,” mentioned one enterprise proprietor, who declined to present their identify on account of concern of retaliation. “We’re being uncared for. Our enterprise has gone down, not solely due to what’s occurring with immigration, however due to the homeless difficulty that has been happening for years. One of the best I can do will not be become involved.”
