Tents and other items were cleared out of a lot in Van Nuys early Thursday that has been the site of a large homeless encampment for years.
The location is near the 405 Freeway near Oxnard Street, where about two dozen tents were located in a lot next to businesses that include a Public Storage.
The mayor’s office said the operation is part of the mayor’s voluntary Inside Safe program.
Mayor Karen Bass announced Inside Safe shortly after taking office in December 2022. The effort is designed to place participants temporarily into motels with the goal of getting them permanent housing and services to build lives off the streets, with resources for substance abuse and mental health counseling.
It was not immediately clear how many people were at the encampment early Thursday and how many had been offered services.
Video from NewsChopper4 showed wooden pallets, a basketball hoop, portable lavatory and more in the lot. Teams could be seen dismantling tents and hauling items from the encampment. At least three front-end loaders and five dump trucks were at the site.
There were plans to turn the lot into a safe parking area where people could stay overnight. That plan never came to fruition. Over the following years, the encampment continued to grow and remained a regular sight for workers at nearby businesses and drivers on the 405 Freeway.
In 2019, city crews and volunteers conducted one of several sweeps of the lot, but tents soon returned.
The encampment is adjacent to the northbound side of the freeway, east of the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area. Homeless encampments in and around the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area have been a persistent issue for years.
In June 2024, a firefighter was hospitalized due to an explosion during a brush fire in the nature area.
In January 2020, sanitation crews removed makeshift structures and debris from a 34-acre site near Encino Creek. The structures and power generators were in a dense forest of palm trees and other vegetation.
The basin nature area is designated as parkland that closes at dusk and reopens at dawn. It is off-limits for camping.
Homelessness in Los Angeles is in its second year of decline, according to the city and county’s 2025 Homeless Count. Los Angeles County experienced a 4% decrease in unhoused people, and a 3.4% drop in the city of Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority data.
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at tackling homelessness by taking a new approach focused on “protecting public safety.” The order, titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” calls for the reversal of judicial precedents and consent decrees that would make it easier for cities to remove homeless people from the streets and into treatment facilities.
Source: NBC Los Angeles
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