Concerns raised about homeless camp near schools in Lafayette Park

WESTLAKE DISTRICT, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Parents are voicing their concerns over a large homeless camp that has emerged in Lafayette Park, a couple of miles northeast of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.

The encampment is located in an area surrounded by elementary schools and a nonprofit after-school program that serves more than 2,000 underprivileged children year-round.

"Sometimes their children observe them changing in public, taking baths in the park, drinking in the tents, using narcotics," said LAPD senior lead officer Iris Santin.

Still, Santin says there's only so much the department can do. The homeless are allowed to pitch tents within certain hours.

Street services can legally order inhabitants of an encampment to move, but they have 72 hours to do so, at which point, some will leave and come right back, others will move just down the block.

Tony Brown, who runs the nonprofit Heart of Los Angeles, says it's time for city leaders to step in with some solutions.

"I'd like to create boundaries immediately around schools and parks so that we don't have the confluence of gang members and homeless," Brown said.

While there is concern for the safety of the children, the community is sympathetic to the needs of the homeless.