Concrete barriers inexplicably appeared along several on-street parking spaces in Chatsworth.
It’s unclear who installed the large slabs, but homeless advocates believe they are intended to deter campers and anyone experiencing homelessness from parking or staying in the area.
“What we’re doing here now is trying to find out who’s doing it,” said Pastor Kathy Huck. “If I could work with the person doing it, maybe we could come up with a better, more reasonable solution.”
Huck is an outreach worker at “About My Father’s Business”, a homeless organization based in Canoga Park. She said she has been dealing with this issue for about a year. The barriers have complicated her work by displacing even more people and disconnecting them from the services and resources they need.
“We hate to see them here, but they’ve got to be somewhere,” Huck said. “And if you put these cinder blocks or something like that to remove people, they’re going to go somewhere else.”
Huck believes a short-term solution is to keep the area clean by picking up trash while officials work on something bigger.
“I would like to see those in power bring some of the unhoused people to the meeting, listen to them, and then come up with resolutions,” she said.
KCAL News reached out to the mayor’s office, Councilman John Lee’s office and Los Angeles County Public Works for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
