Post office encampment cleared in Los Angeles; Concerns remain over mess possibly returning

Homeless encampment outside post office cleaned up

The homeless encampment outside a post office near downtown Los Angeles has been cleaned up. This comes a little over a week after FOX 11 spoke with neighbors about the trash being scattered all over the area.

LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles post office parking lot, overrun by a homeless encampment, has been cleaned up.

Cleanup crews hauled away garbage from an encampment in the parking lot of the post office off 7th Street and Burlington Avenue in the MacArthur Park area of Los Angeles Saturday morning.

On April 1, FOX 11 first exposed the unsanitary and unsafe conditions.

Mounds of trash, drug paraphernalia and rats filled the parking lot.

"I don't know what to say, nothing's really changing," said a nearby business owner who did not want to be identified.

He said he is not confident the lot will stay clean.

"It's a nice gesture, but honestly, as soon as it's gone and cleaned up, maybe like 12 hours later, they're going to come back with their tent, feces on the floor, needles. I've seen it multiple times," said the man.

Saturday's cleanup was a coordinated effort between the United States Postal Service, since it's federal property, and the city of Los Angeles.

At another encampment down the street:

"I'm not a lost cause. I shouldn't be forgotten about," said Trey, an unhoused man. "No, I don't want to live like this. I was just stabbed."

He told us he has been moved from encampments nine times in the past three months but said the city rarely offers housing and other resources.

"A few times we were, but every time there was never a follow-up. It was more of a camera gimmick," said Trey.

Back at the post office, officials said they are working on a long-term solution that might prevent the encampment from coming back.

FOX 11 reached out to the city asking if resources were offered to the unhoused people who were moved. We have not heard back yet.