By Ananya Roy, Ashley Bennett, Jennifer Blake, et al., Photo: Michael Bogner/Shutterstock, Housing Matters, June 1, 2022
In 2019, an unhoused encampment formed at Echo Park Lake, a public park in a downtown, gentrifying Los Angeles neighborhood. This community grew during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflecting the social composition of homelessness in LA, the encampment had many Black, Indigenous, and immigrant residents and was a refuge for people fleeing gendered violence. Residents built life-sustaining infrastructure, including a community garden and kitchen, a jobs program, and accessible showers.
In March 2021, city politicians pledged all residents would be placed in “stable, permanent housing” within a year and ordered an eviction of those who stayed at Echo Park Lake. In the weeks before, some residents, anticipating a violent eviction, left. Others agreed to temporary placements from the city, placements promised as a step toward stable, permanent housing.
On March 24 and 25, the city conducted a militarized police invasion of the encampment. It mobilized 400 police officers to evict the 15 to 20 remaining residents and built a chain link fence, enclosing the park, the remaining residents, and others present at the park, including journalists and community organizers who showed up to defend the encampment. Police brutalized many present at the park that night and arrested 182 people, including prominent journalists.
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