'NCIS' Actress Pauley Perrette, Mayor Garcetti To Advocate For Protection Of Homeless In Hollywood
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — "NCIS" star Pauley Perrette and Mayor Eric Garcetti plan to meet next week to advocate for further protection of the homeless population living in Hollywood, KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO reported Wednesday.
According to Perrette, the crime rate in Hollywood that has been committed by homeless people has increased by 80 percent in the last five years.
The actress says we need to provide facilities for the homeless in order to provide safety and make a difference in the community.
And the #homeless plight continues. This was last night, please read: pic.twitter.com/CykSWfXsN6
— Pauley Perrette (@PauleyP) December 30, 2015
During an interview with KNX 1070's Jayson Campadonia, the actress recalled the moments when was severely assaulted by a homeless man on Nov. 12 while she walked alone in her Hollywood Hills neighborhood.
"I was almost killed and I literally escaped with my life," Perrette explained. "[It] was ironic and frightening and very sad. I do think now, as I'm looking through this, that it had to be me because of my understanding of what's going on with the problem that we have in Hollywood."
"My assault was a result of a problem," she added. "It wasn't the result of one man. What we have here is a failure to communicate."
According to Perrette, much of the problem associated with crime committed by the homeless is due to increased construction of expensive housing in the Hollywood area.
"We have a huge problem," she added. "We are running people out that can actually pay a living wage. What we're lacking in our incredible building up of Hollywood is that we have forgotten about the people who are on the sidewalk."
During the interview, Perrette talked about a housing program that was set up for the homeless at a facility in Hollywood, which was similar to a program in Santa Monica.
However, the problem with the housing program was that homeless people were transported to stay at the facility from other areas due to county perimeters, according to the actress.
"We have completely failed," she said. "We're so falling behind that we don't even have a place to put these people. They are starving and they are cold. A lot of them are mentally ill. A lot of them are attacking people because of this."
Perrette is a homeless advocate who has worked with Garcetti on several charities.