HOLLYWOOD– As the sun starts to go down, men and women gather with shopping carts on Hollywood Boulevard near Gower Street. The carts are filled with their belongings and animals. Some people lie flat out on the ground staring in a daze, while others are inside their tents. The smell of urine wafts through the air.
The homeless population in Hollywood remains a longstanding concern, with the overall homeless population in Los Angeles estimated to be around 43,699. It seems that every incoming politician representing the area pledges to solve the crisis. Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program pledged to address homelessness and bring people inside. Yet business owners who have been in Hollywood for years say it’s always the same tune. A lot of promises and few results. “The mental health system needs a total redo,” said Robin Medina, a former Hollywood business owner. “Until they are willing to address the root of the problems, whether it be addiction or true mental health, nothing is going to work.”
Despite the challenges at the political level, some organizations are focused on the underlying causes, including a non-profit organization called Heart Forward LA, founded in 2019 by Kerry Morrison, the former head of a Hollywood business improvement district.
“Thirty to 40% of the people living on the street suffer from mental illness, and another perhaps 30 or 40% suffer from substance use disorder. Some data suggests that maybe 60 to 70% of our unhoused population are living with untreated mental illness,” said Morrison.
Morrison has been actively working with individuals inside of LA County Jails and homeless people on the streets who suffer from mental illness.
“Our system does not really focus on long-term recovery for mental health illness. It’s really a crisis response system. You might end up hospitalized for a couple of days and be released back into the community without a real viable connection to ongoing care with treatment and recovery,” said Morrison.
Over the past five years, various nonprofit organizations and programs like Shine LA, initiated by Mayor Karen Bass, have sought to address homelessness in Hollywood by offering people hotel rooms for short periods of time.
Some local business owners say they have to close their businesses at 6 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. to protect the safety of customers and workers.
“Our business is surrounded by homeless people and by drugs and different gangs. We get multiple homeless people, mainly people under the influence, walking into the business, stealing stuff, and harassing customers. We had to pay extra to get locks on our bathroom doors because they just walk in without saying anything and trash the bathroom,” said Rudy Har, the owner of Bread N Butter café on Hollywood Boulevard.
On September 15, staff members from City Council District 13, represented by Hugo Soto-Martinez, met with local Hollywood business owners at Bread N Butter. Business owners told the representatives that the population of homeless Angelenos in the area increased when the Salvation Army began collaborating with the Hollywood Food Coalition, which offers free meals every weekday on Hollywood Boulevard. “Once they’re done feeding them, we see food everywhere. This town is starting to get rat-infested. It’s crazy,” said Osh Asatyran, who works at the nearby Atomic Tattoo.
“So many times I have come in the morning to try and open the gate, and the food they get from the Salvation Army is all over the place. Whatever they end up not eating is literally just spilled all over the floor, rice, and half-eaten chicken wings. I had to sweep it so many times,” said Rudy.
A Los Angeles Police Department officer, city council representatives, and some business owners took a walk around the block, where they showed us a nearby courthouse that is closed on weekends when some homeless people set up encampments. “The drug use, the blatant drug sales, outright fornication. For 20 minutes, people would park right there and then go back to the car, and their car window would be busted,” said Gallo Medina, a business property owner on Hollywood Boulevard. “I mean, it’s Hollywood. When they exit the freeway, the first thing they see is the bathrooms right in front of the courthouse and encampments,” said Asatyran.
Business owners say that customers are afraid to come to the area, especially because a lot of businesses don’t have parking lots and customers must park their cars on the street before walking. “We have clients coming in carrying weapons because they’re so scared, they’re scared for their lives, every day,” said Asatyran.
Medina has hired his own security to help patrol the area. “It was dangerous, and I have a responsibility,” he said. “The police can only do so much, and when you look at the city council, they’re very hands-off. ‘Well, there’s nothing we can do.’”
Many business owners in Hollywood said they feel for Angelenos down on their luck, but their patience is wearing thin. “We would do all we can to help people who are struggling. But there’s a difference between struggling with housing and trying to make ends meet, and choosing a lifestyle where you are using drugs, and you can tell the difference,” said Medina.
LAPD officer Manny Chavez patrols Hollywood and has worked in other parts of the city. “Hollywood looks great compared to [downtown]. The real problem in the city is criminal homelessness. It’s not even the gangs. It’s the open-air drug use. About a third of our crime in Hollywood alone is homeless-related.”
On October 15, Brendan Corbett, who is running for LA County Sheriff, met with Hollywood business owners at Bread N Butter. Corbett worked for the LA County Sheriff’s Department for nearly 40 years in many different departments, patrols, and assignments. At the café, he told the group about his idea to open a new county jail. “The jails are the most impactful entity we have to actually affect repeated offending and homelessness. I can guarantee probably 90% of the homeless have been incarcerated at some point or had contact with law enforcement,” said Corbett.
Corbett contends that more jail space will go a long way toward solving the city’s homeless crisis.
“There was an old expression like ‘You can’t get well in a cell.’ You actually can if there’s proper medical, proper mental care and treatment to get you back in the community on a path to wellness,” said Corbett.
Although some politicians are scrambling to come up with a resolution to the city’s homelessness crisis, critics point to a 2014 measure as contributing to the problem.
That year, voters approved Proposition 47, which made it a misdemeanor to possess illegal drugs. In 2024, Proposition 36 passed. That measure states that possession of fentanyl, heroin, or cocaine, as well as a subsequent conviction, is a misdemeanor. To reduce the state’s prison population, offenders can get drug treatment instead of serving time. If they finish their programs, charges are dismissed.
“The issues lie in legislation,” said Chavez, the LAPD officer. “For all of the issues of the homeless person shooting up in public. Using fentanyl and smoking crack, rest assured, they have been arrested dozens of times, but the problem is their infractions and misdemeanors, and we can’t arrest our way out of it. As a police department, we are here to enforce the law, and we will enforce it as it is written.”
