Local cities cracking down on homeless people living in vehicles

Business owners and tenants in an industrial area in Chatsworth are demanding city officials address what they said was a growing problem with homeless and RV encampments in the district.

The RVs near Plummer Street and De Soto Avenue got arrived earlier this year after the city enacted a law banning people from living out of vehicles throughout neighborhoods or near schools.

But it allowed them to stay in most commercial and industrial areas.

Denis moved to Chatsworth in his RV back in May 2012 when he was pushed out of a residential neighborhood in the Lancaster area.

"At that time there was, this stuff wasn't--these weren't around."

He told FOX 11's Leah Uko that only recently he had seen people living in their RVs and on the streets become disrespectful of the area.

"That's what I've got right in front of me," he pointed to another RC. "You can see what this guy's doing. He's got his RV all out."

But as for a request from business owners and tenants that lawabiding people like him leave?
Denis said it wasn't fair.

"I can pull my walls out, I don't. I don't interfere with people that way. Some people are like him. They don't care."

Realtor, Scott Caswell with Lee & Associates agreed it was not fair to just push these people out to another street.

"This isn't solving the homeless issue for them either.

But he also acknowledged it was unfair that the tenants he did business with had to encounter what they said were hostile homeless people who slept and defecated on their property.

"They don't need it either," Caswell explained. "It's devaluing property, it's costing owners a lot to protect their properties and to repair those."

Business owner, Gerald Farris with Bioneutraceuticals, said in addition to cleaning up urine, feces and trash, there were drugs going around in the RV encampments.

"There's syringes. They're shooting up drugs."

"We have the richest state in the union. We have the sixth largest economy in the nation we can't do anything about this. No body wants to address the problem. It's like it's not politically correct."

Caswell created a petition for his tenants to express their concerns.

He got about 600 signatures from people who stated the homeless influx brought them assaults, burglaries, vandalizing and infestation.

He sent the petition over to councilman Mitch Englander urging city officials to the address the situation.

Denis said he would move if he had to, but as of Monday night, he had a right to park on public streets.

"I came from Florida so when I came into the state I had to pay $8,500 to put this RV on the street. I'm entitled to park on the street. I paid $8,500. I'm entitled to park on the street."