Fake it till you make it.
Homeless Californians built a house complete with rock walls, a garden, a barbecue grill, a hammock, decorative string lights, potted plants and working electricity on a strip of land wedged between a busy freeway and the Arroyo Seco in Los Angeles.
The impressive and seemingly sturdy structure stands out among the dozens of makeshift shelters, tents and tarps that those without a home have constructed along the drainage basin, as filmed by local news station KTLA.
The number of encampments built above the “dry river” has increased in recent years as 46,000 Los Angeles residents are experiencing homelessness, the station reported.
The people who live in the makeshift home on the edge of the 110 freeway would not speak to the station, but neighbors who did gave mixed reactions.
“They don’t bother me,” one nearby resident said in Spanish, noting that most of the encampment inhabitants keep to themselves.
But neighbor Mike Ancheta, who was biking by, said he “admired” the work they’ve done, but the shelters shouldn’t be there.
“This doesn’t belong here. This is public property,” Ancheta told KTLA. “But this is not what it’s supposed to be used for. This is dangerous. As you can see, someone is cooking out there, an open fire. They are stealing electricity. I mean, come on.”
The house-like encampment, however, does have two fire extinguishers in its “yard,” photos show.
“It sucks that some of these people are here,” Enrique Rodriguez said. “I do wish better for those people. [But] I cannot be sorry for the mistakes that they made.”
And yet another resident blamed Los Angeles’ rental costs.
“It’s messed up,” Ulysses Chavez told the local station.
“They should lower rent. They should lower all kinds of stuff, especially in LA.”
