Mayor Bass’ Inside Safe program clears homeless encampment in Van Nuys

Massive Van Nuys homeless encampment cleared

A notorious homeless encampment in Van Nuys was cleared out as part of Mayor Karen Bass' "Inside Safe" program, while workers were met with protesters in favor of keeping the encampment.

LOS ANGELES - An area known as "Tent City" in the San Fernando Valley was in the process of an encampment sweep Thursday.

What we know:

The process began around 6 a.m. on Thursday, July 31, at the homeless encampment located on Oxnard Street near Sepulveda Boulevard, an area visible from the 405 Freeway. 

Aerial images from SkyFOX showed piles of trash being cleared by city crews and Los Angeles Police Department officers at the scene.

Sweep launched at large Van Nuys encampment

A sweep was underway at a large homeless encampment in Van Nuys.

The sweep was part of Los Angeles’ Inside Safe operation and impacted an estimated 75 people. As part of the operation, those affected will be offered housing and opportunities.

"In order to immediately begin bringing Angelenos off the street, Mayor Bass launched Inside Safe – a bold city-wide, voluntary, proactive housing-led strategy to bring people inside from tents and encampments, and to prevent encampments from returning," LA City’s website explained.

What they're saying:

While it’s known by locals as "Tent City," it’s referred to as "The Compound" by others. 

"The Compound has provided stability for people living on the street for the last 2 years. The loss of this space would be devastating for a community that has built a self-determined people’s solution to homelessness," Street Watch organizers said in a press release. 

Street Watch defines itself as a "coalition of organizers concerned about tenant rights and the homeless reality in LA."

What's next:

Mayor Bass: ‘I will not accept Angelenos living in dangerous squalor conditions’ 

Mayor Bass takes questions at encampment cleanup

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass took questions during a homeless encampment cleanup in Van Nuys as part of her Inside Safe program on Thursday.

"We've we've responded to encampments all the time. It took a while to amass the resources to house everybody in this encampment. We rarely encounter encampments as large as this," LA Mayor Karen Bass said. 

She continued to explain for the head of the Inside Safe program, "takes her a while to assemble the motel rooms because we try to take people together so that we don't break up the community because what we do acknowledge, when you see the encampments, these are communities, so we don't want to separate them." 

Bass continued to explain, "When we take them to a motel, a community-based organization takes over, provides three meals a day, provides security and social workers so that they can connect with the services they need to get their lives together. In that process, we hope that we can move them into permanent housing." 

She said a reality they've had to face is that they are often in motels for long periods of time.

"But here's the choice. Do you pay for them to be in motels? Or do you allow them to beat in squalor, endanger themselves and endanger everybody else while you work to build a house? We are looking for more cost-effective ways than motels. We have reduced the price this year, and we hope to reduce it even further moving forward. But one thing that I will not tolerate is Angeleno's living in dangerous squalor conditions."