Exclusive | LA’s homeless crisis hits shocking new low — here’s what The Post found in the drain

LA’s homeless people are now living along a filthy riverbed despite the city blowing over $1 billion on housing solutions.

Last week the California Post found a large homeless encampment on the Los Angeles River next to Griffith Park, surviving on scraps and washing in the putrid water.

More than 25 people have set up on the heavily polluted stretch, seeking shelter in storm drains from intense daytime heat and chilly winter nights.

It comes as LA’s homeless crisis continues to blight the city, with The Post reporting last week an encampment has now set up in the sewer system.

This is despite a $2.6 billion cash injection from Gov. Gavin Newsom to buy and renovate properties for people sleeping rough.

Some along the riverbed told The Post they had been there for decades in squalid conditions after passing through shelters and treatment facilities.

One of them, who said her name was Ises, revealed she moved from Alaska to LA and claimed she had been there for 20 years.

She said she had been battling mental illness and was addicted to meth, but added she stays by the river for the freedom and the animals she feeds along the bank.

The Post watched as she bathed in murky runoff, scrubbing her filthy clothes in the polluted water, with zero sanitation.

Her belongings were out in the open, without anything to protect her from the elements. Stinking hot in summer, cold in winter, and no way out should a flash flood hit.

She used to have protection from the weather, pointing to a nearby stormwater drain, but she said: “They bricked it off. … There’s no oxygen now. Like being in a plastic bag.”

Former LA mayoral candidate and developer Rick Caruso told The Post: “It’s criminal to allow people to live like this. It’s unsafe.

“We should be providing [the homeless] the proper housing and the proper care that they need to get their life back on track,” he added.

Community advocate Cameron Flanagan has spent years working this stretch of the river, trying to pull people into services as conditions on the ground continue to spiral.

She said: “There’s been constant graffiti, trash, blown-up sites, drugs being bought and sold. It’s dangerous, and the right systems aren’t in place.”

Flanagan said what has unfolded is not just worsening, it was being fundamentally misread by officials, adding: “We had two of the homeless die this past month.”

Ises is living in horrific homeless conditions after a series of underground encampments were raided last week.

Officers pounced on one group found living in a storm drain tunnel in Canoga Park on Friday after they had gained access through a manhole entrance on the sidewalk.

Rangers with the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority moved in to safely remove the occupants, placing them into temporary housing and sealing the drain entrance to block future access.

The interior of the tunnel was thick with debris, trash and human waste, turning the storm system into an unsafe shelter.

Officials said many unhoused residents they encounter decline city services and later return to abandoned drains, digging deeper rather than seeking help.

And this came just days after a cleanup operation at yet another site in South Los Angeles. That one, near West 88th Street and South Grand Avenue, had been used intermittently as overnight shelter.

Neighbors around these underground encampments have long complained about crime, vandalism and drug activity pouring out of hidden tunnels and the tent communities above ground.

One nearby resident said it is a “terrible” situation and that officials could be doing more to protect the neighborhood.

These people are still living in hell despite the state and city splashing a fortune on new housing opportunities for homeless people.

At least $2.6 billion of taxpayers’ cash has been spent on buying and renovating hotels, motels and dorms for the huge unhoused population in the city and county since 2020.

The properties were all purchased with $1.3 billion from Newsom’s Homekey initiative, which then renovated with another $1.3 billion in funding from the city and county of Los Angeles.

Experts are demanding an investigation and blasted the spending spree — as Los Angeles continues to grapple with a housing crisis, draconian building restrictions and a budget deficit.

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