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VAN NUYS (CNS) - Tempers flared Thursday as city crews moved in to clear a large homeless encampment along the San Diego (405) Freeway in Van Nuys, with protesters gathering at the scene and some confronting authorities as they attempted to enter the area.
Video from the scene showed several protesters being physically pushed away from the entrance to the encampment as city crews arrived and began the operation, which was part of Mayor Karen Bass' Inside Safe program aimed at moving people off the streets and into housing.
Several Los Angeles Police Department units were at the scene in the 15000 block of Oxnard Street, near a public storage facility adjacent to the northbound 405 Freeway. The LAPD confirmed officers were on scene beginning around 5:15 a.m.
The encampment included dozens of tents and piles of trash, which were being cleared during the operation with the assistance of front-loaders and dump trucks. The site was previously the scene of a large fire that broke out last November.
It was unclear how many people were living in the encampment, which is commonly referred to as "The Compound."
As the Inside Safe operation continued, protesters gathered nearby, demanding answers about what would happen to the homeless individuals being displaced from the area.
The mayor's office emphasized that Inside Safe is a voluntary program designed to offer housing and services to homeless individuals, with the goal of moving them off the streets and into safer, more supportive living environments.
Mayoral spokesman Zach Seidl told KTLA there is "a lot of misinformation out there about Inside Safe."
According to the mayor's office, operations such as the one conducted Thursday morning were a key reason for two consecutive years of reductions reflected in the annual Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority point-in-time homeless count.
The same encampment has been the target of previous cleanup efforts dating back as far as 2019, but the tents have repeatedly returned, according to broadcast reports.
"It took a while to amass the resources to house everybody in this encampment. We rarely encounter encampments as large as this," Bass told reporters at the scene.
The mayor said it takes time for Inside Safe to secure hotel and motel rooms to use as temporary housing.
"We try to take people together so we don't break up the community," she said.
For that reason, as many individuals as possible are housed in the same hotel, Bass added.
Once housed, a community-based organization steps in to provide resources and security for the residents, helping them begin "to get their lives together."
Bass acknowledged that those relocated "might be in motels for a long period of time."
"But here's the choice: do you pay for them to be in motels? Or, do you allow them to be in squalor, endanger themselves and endanger everybody else while you build a house," Bass said.
"We are looking for more cost-effective ways than motels. We have reduced the price this year, and we hope to reduce it even further moving forward. But one thing I will not tolerate is Angelenos living in dangerous squalor."