Valley Businesses Petition City on Homeless Issue

More than 600 business and property owners have signed a petition asking for the city of L.A.’s help in dealing with increasing homelessness in Chatsworth and Northridge. According to Scott Caswell, principal of commercial real estate brokerage firm Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura, clients including tenants and property owners have complained to him about homeless people in recreational vehicles who are parking for extended periods of time in business parks roughly bordered by Nordhoff Street to the south, Plummer Street to the north, Topanga Canyon Boulevard to the west and Winnetka Avenue to the east in the city’s Devonshire Police District. The homeless are creating encampments that are causing hardships to businesses operating there. As a result, Caswell launched a petition drive and gathered 600-plus signatures that he has sent to the 12th District Council office. The 12th District is represented by L.A. City Councilman Mitchell Englander. “Clients started telling me that if something wasn’t done, my next job would be to move them out of Los Angeles,” Caswell said in a statement. Caswell said that business and property owners cite vandalism, theft, break-ins and trash, feces and syringes on their properties and on the streets surrounding their businesses related to homeless people, particularly those living in RVs. Employees have been assaulted and harassed as well, according to the complaints. The problems increased, according to Caswell, after the City Council voted in January to allow 24/7 vehicle dwellings in industrial areas. Englander voted against the measure, according to his office. The council’s vote changed Municipal Code 85.02 85.02 to allow people to live in vehicles between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. as long as they are not within a block of schools, pre-schools, daycare facilities or parks, and from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in non-residential zones under the same conditions, according to the law. The vehicles have to be drivable, comply with parking restrictions, be registered with the state and insured. The law went into effect in January and is scheduled to expire July 1, 2018, unless extended by ordinance. It affects 21 areas, including several in the Valley.