Copper theft, flooding and empty beds plague L.A. homeless housing, report finds

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Set us as preferred After a string of negative audits and a scathing court-ordered review, it’s no secret that the Los Angeles homeless services system has flaws.Now a new report filed in federal court has reaffirmed those earlier findings with on-the-ground detail previously lacking.Without naming names, the report filed Wednesday by the global investigations firm Nardello & Co.recounted, among other things, how various agencies charged with aiding homeless people are unable to communicate and share data efficiently and how some subsidized housing projects were plagued by numerous problems, such as vandalism.One property manager said a building has experienced what she called “large-scale intrusion events.” In other words, intruders overran the building to steel copper pipes.

California The homeless count recorded 638 beds at Union Rescue Mission that went uncounted last year, leading to a reported 24% rise in homelessness on Skid Row.The 225-unit building had 83 vacancies.The manager said move-ins had been paused during remediation work.

The most recent event, involving “a resident’s guest who attempted to steal copper wire from the water system, affected more than 20 units and several common areas.”Another homeless housing project operated under a master lease by Los Angeles County had only 102 occupants in its 169 beds due to several factors, “including water damage, elevator outages, and incidents involving the theft of copper wiring,” its manager told Nardello & Co.investigators.At the time of the visit, the manager was overseeing multiple transfers from other locations including 51 residents leaving another building “due to flooding.”Going into greater detail than earlier reports, Nardello & Co.

included summaries of site visits to dozens of shelters and permanent housing projects.At...