Central Lakewood confronts homelessness
A small shopping complex deals with routine homeless encampments & encounters as the city figures out how to approach the region's crisis.
The ladies at Salon Allure know a thing or two about homeless encounters.
After buying a drink at nearby John’s Liquor, homeless take to one of the salon’s benches out in front, explained Veronica, the salon’s three-year receptionist. Sometimes they take a nap and at times they talk to themselves. Other times they try to bum a cigarette off somebody.
“Doesn’t make our clients too happy,” Veronica said. “They may not be bad, but still it intimidates people.”
The homeless don’t demand money and when the salon’s workers tell them to leave or not drink alcohol, they cooperate.
But when a homeless person back in March entered through the salon’s back door to get into the break room, that’s when the police were called. The trespasser was later found down the street.
“What are the police going to do?” asked Dan Vo, a 30-year manager at John’s Liquor who himself has dealt with homeless visitors.
Vo showed the Lakewood Populist two photos of homeless loitering in front of the small shopping complex near Del Amo Boulevard and Woodruff Avenue.
“They want some food, you give them money for lunch. They leave,” Vo added. “Can anybody do something?”
“We have a horrible problem,” said another Salon Allure worker.
“I don’t know what we can do outside of keep pushing them out,” said Councilman Ariel Pe, who owns Labwerkz Print Shop, the only other store at the small shopping complex tucked behind an orthodontist office.
Workers from all three shops reported homeless sleeping overnight in front of the shopping complex.
What draws homeless to this place?
“I feel safe in Lakewood,” one homeless told Pe.
Lakewood’s least-affected area by homelessness
Public data showed Lakewood’s central neighborhoods between Clark Avenue and the San Gabriel River to have the lowest concentration of homeless.
Some of these housing tracts have never had more than two homeless persons between 2016 and 2020, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and its annual homeless counts. The housing tract where Mayfair High School is located had no homeless during that time.
Outside of a spike in 2017, the housing tract east of Woodruff Avenue—between South Street and Del Amo Boulevard—never had more than three homeless.
But central Lakewood still has its homeless problems, including possible transient overflow from Long Beach, a trend of people living in vehicles, and a spike between 2017 and 2018.
Heartwell Park, homeless overflow into Lakewood?
Within the several parking lots of Long Beach’s Heartwell Park are RVs and vans complete with generators that buzz during the day.
These belong to persons living in their cars.
"They are people that just started parking there recently,” said Long Beach homeless services officer Paul Duncan.
Law enforcement visit the area at night to monitor the situation and engage with the homeless during the day, Duncan said. Long Beach has seen a substantial rise in the number of homeless in RVs during the last three years.
Lakewood’s neighbor has a safe site parking program for 15 vehicles but none of those are at Heartwell Park, Duncan explained. Long Beach has no plans to initiate safe site parking programs at the parks due to funding restrictions.
Long Beach is looking at partnering with churches and nonprofits instead. Lakewood city staff, meanwhile, is considering recommending to City Council to allow religious institutions to provide 1,301 low-income housing units.
The Lakewood housing tract facing Heartwell Park was the worst-affected area in this part of Lakewood, getting between three to six homeless persons between 2017 and 2020. Most of the homeless were found to be living in vehicles.
Coincidentally, this area began seeing an uptick in homelessness around the time Long Beach saw a rise in homeless living in RVs, three years ago.
Next door, the housing tract facing the Heartwell Golf Course had a spike in homelessness in 2019, with about five people found to be living in vehicles that year. Otherwise, the area had three or fewer homeless between 2015 and 2020.
Narrow vehicular zone
The central housing tract between Woodruff Avenue and Bellflower Boulevard has had a routine problem with homeless living in their vehicles.
In 2020, seven homeless were calculated to be living in vans in the area. In 2018 and 2017, five homeless were calculated to be living in vehicles both years.
The data from the 2019 homeless count report appeared incomplete, though the LAHSA interactive map reported no homeless in the area that year.
Spike of 2017 & 2018
The housing tract comprising City Hall and the Lakewood sheriff’s substation—between Clark Avenue and Bellflower Boulevard—saw a spike in homelessness in 2017 and 2018.
Eight and 12 homeless, respectively, were reported for both those years.
The 2019 homeless count report for this area was incorrect. The LAHSA interactive map, however, reported only two homeless persons in this neighborhood that year. Four were counted in 2020.
Central Lakewood in 2021
Due to Wuhan Virus fears, LAHSA nixed the 2021 homeless count, leaving the public somewhat in the dark about the current homeless situation in the city. However, anecdotal evidence points to the fact that central Lakewood—though not as bad as east Lakewood—is experiencing its share of the region’s homeless crisis.
The Lakewood Populist documented a homeless man camping overnight in front of Salon Allure and Labwerkz Print Shop last weekend.
On Saturday, a homeless man with a cart was seen walking near CM School Supply and a lone cart was spotted at the nearby bus stop near Bellflower and Del Amo boulevards.
A blanket and some other debris was also seen by the side entrance of Shir Chadash synagogue. At the recently-opened KC Discounts store, across the parking lot from Shir Chadash, was a disheveled man on Monday. He had a cart in front of him filled with a pile of goods as he sat against the wall.
Vo said the city didn’t have a big homeless problem, yet.
“But I don’t know the future,” he said.
- Originally published May 26, 2021.
NOTE: This is Part 2 of a 4-part series of homelessness in Lakewood, California. Click here to read part 1 and for a list of links to interactive maps of Lakewood’s homeless population by housing tract, ‘East Lakewood, city’s leading homeless zone’.