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Homeless Hollywood man occupies entire bus bench
The man's bus stop setup draws debate on whether the city is doing enough to address Los Angeles' homeless crisis.
LOS ANGELES - It’s hard to miss him. A man living on the bus bench at Melrose and Vine, talking to himself, arranging and rearranging the boxes, papers, dirty mattress, and other belongings that were covering the bus stop when we first saw him. He says his name is David, and you can hear him in our story as he explains his situation.
A local resident, who says he is also part of a citizen advisory committee on homeless issues, tells us he’s been trying to get help for the man for some time — since he first saw him living at a bus stop a few blocks away. "He’s been at this new location a couple of weeks," says Keith Johnson, who has good reason to worry.
Last Thanksgiving, he found a different person who had been living at another bus bench around the corner dead. It was particularly disturbing, Johnson explains, because "I called city officials four days before, and they said they would ‘drive by,’ and next thing you know, the poor man is dead."
While he called city officials, we did the same, including Metro, which doesn’t manage the bus stops. That’s up to the city where the bus stop is, we were told. Someone did respond, though, and overnight, the bus stop was cleaned up and the man had moved — but only around the corner.
He is now living on the sidewalk. People stop by to help, and you can see in our story some of his daily routine, which we warn you can be disturbing. But as Johnson explains, "People from different homeless agencies come by and offer help, but he doesn’t want to move, and they can’t force him!"
It’s not a crime to be homeless. David can be moved from a bus bench or for obstructing the entrance of a school or business, but unless he becomes an obvious harm to himself or others, there is little chance he would be picked up by authorities. Even if he were put on what is known as a 5150 — involuntary hold — it would be temporary.
FOX 11 reached out to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ office and received the following statement in response:
"Health, mental health and behavioral health services lie solely with the County — the Mayor’s Office has asked the County to send mental health support today. This partnership with the County is imperative to provide comprehensive services for unhoused Angelenos.
This is why Mayor Bass is so zealous about bringing people inside. When people are left on the street — which was the de facto city policy before Mayor Bass was elected — their mental health, addictions and physical health all exponentially worsen. There’s much more work to do to address these systemic failures, but because Mayor Bass has taken action, street homelessness is down by 17.5%. She will continue to be relentless in her work to bring people inside."