Studio City encampment begins to return days after LA officials attempt to clear it

Thursday, April 20, 2023
Studio City encampment begins to return days after cleanup
Tents are reappearing near a Studio City park after a homeless encampment was cleaned up. One dog owner says the encampment led to his pet accidentally ingesting cocaine and THC.

STUDIO CITY, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- An owner learned his dog ingested cocaine and THC after a walk in Studio City's Woodbridge Park ended with an emergency vet visit last week.

It's impossible to know for certain where the drugs came from, but an encampment down the street was the first to take blame.

It was set up within a zone in violation of Los Angeles' anti-camping law, the 41.18 ordinance, as it's near a school.

City workers cleared the encampment within days of ABC7's story about the dog who ingested drugs.

Adelaido Garza, who is unhoused, said he was sleeping when workers arrived. He said he got up and left before being offered housing.

L.A. City Councilmember Paul Krekorian's office told ABC7 the city offered housing to everyone there, and that the few still there refused it.

"Although these four have declined previous offers of interim housing, we are working with the County Supervisor's office and Caltrans to find a solution that prevents their moving back and forth from one jurisdiction to another," the councilman's office said in a statement.

The encampment began accumulating things again almost immediately, and now overlaps onto Caltrans property and adjacent to county jurisdiction.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass' latest budget proposal aims to create meaningful change. It includes a $250 million investment to scale her Inside Safe Program citywide. The city says it is evaluating 3,000 city-owned properties for housing use.

Garza has spent the better part of a decade battling poverty, prison time and through it all, addiction, but says he just accepted an offer to go indoors. His biggest challenge is being sober enough to stay indoors.

"I've only been sober for like a week straight, and I end up going back on it again," Garza said. "Everybody's doing it."