Even in Beverly Hills, L.A.’s wealthiest area, the homeless problem has become serious recently, raising concerns among business owners.
A long homeless village is formed along San Vicente Boulevard near Orlando Avenue, south of the Beverly Shopping Mall.
Locals who remember the looting of many of the shops on Rodeo Street in the Beverly Hills area during the height of the BLM protests are now raising concerns about the rise of homeless tents moving west from Downtown LA.
A Korean American who lives in a condominium nearby complained that she was upset that Beverly Hills was safer than downtown or Koreatown and that there were no homeless people, so she moved, but there was a homeless tent village nearby.
Recently, homeless people have been showing signs of spreading out of Downtown Skid Row and spreading throughout the city of Los Angeles. In the meantime, the homeless problem has emerged from a local problem centered on Skid Row to a problem facing the entire city of Los Angeles.
According to a survey by the LA Homeless Services Department, last year, the number of homeless cases in LA City totaled 41,000, and the number of homeless cases in LA County totaled 69,000.
LA Mayor Karen Bass is working hard to set up permanent housing for the homeless and remove homeless tents through the “Inside Safe” program introduced last December, but progress is incomplete.
Meanwhile, since the recent pandemic, various crimes such as “smash and grab” theft by people presumed to be homeless in LA have been rampant again, and fundamental measures by the city authorities are required.