60% of homeless moved out of Echo Park unaccounted for
In the year since the Los Angeles Police Department cleared out his homeless encampment in Echo Park, Gustavo Otzoy finally has a place he can call home.
"This is my own place now," he said. "I'm so happy to have it. It's not that big but it's still comfortable."
Last March, chaos ensued after LAPD tried to move Otzoy and nearly 200 people out of Echo Park as the area underwent renovations.
It all came to a head when homeless advocates said the homeless living at the park had the right to stay and protested the clearing. Nonetheless, Echo Park closed. Everyone was forced to leave but the city promised people would be given housing options.
However, Otzoy is one of the very few that received housing.
According to a new report by researchers at UCLA, out of the 183 people living at Echo Park, 17 have found long-term housing, about 9%. About 50 are in temporary shelters and the rest, about 60%, are unaccounted for.
"What is really heartbreaking is 82 people disappeared," said Ananya Roy, director of UCLA's Inequality and Democracy program. "No one knows where they are, and another 15 have returned to homelessness."
Roy accused the city of making promises they failed to keep.
"We are spending public resources and traumatizing and putting them in the shuffle," she said. "No one is getting housed."
She added that there were only a few housing resources despite the abundance of federal and state money.
"We still have to fight a lot of people really need help there," said Otzoy.
The Los Angeles Housing Services Authority has not issued a comment as of yet.
