But representatives of the Los Angles Homeless Services openly scoffed at what they called the misleading terminology.
?It?s a sweep, c?mon, man,? said local homeless activist Ted Hayes. ?They’re down here sweeping up the people, sweeping up the garbage.?
Outreach or sweep, it was all perfectly legal — a city ordinance that prevents sitting, lying or sleeping on any city street or sidewalk was invoked by the LAPD — and so a longstanding homeless encampment at a cul-de-sac near the Harbor Freeway in downtown Los Angeles was dismantled within hours.
Among the first to offer shelter and other services to the suddenly ?homeless? homeless people who had been sheltering at the makeshift encampment was a young Donegal woman. Lisa McLaughlin, a graduate in philosophy, broadcaster and wife of celebrated performer David Strassman, was one of the first on the scene.
?The police arrived at 5:30 in the morning, raided the encampment, and brought 25 people to jail,? McLaughlin said. ?It?s the first time in a long time that they?ve arrested so many people. They?re actually criminalizing homelessness now. That?s a worrying development.?
McLaughlin and other activists on behalf of the homeless pointed out the irony to the assembled media on the night of the ?outreach?: in clearing out the homeless camp, the police were in fact creating further homelessness.
A court case is pending, where some of the homeless arrested in the downtown L.A. sweep will plead not guilty. For McLaughlin the implications of the enforcement are as troubling as they are far reaching. ?The question is, are we to allow municipalities to selectively legislate and enforce laws aimed at homeless people and their encampments — in violation of the United States and California constitution?? she said.
Like poverty, homelessness itself is nothing new. Said McLaughlin: ?Downtown L.A. is like a mini-Calcutta, it?s a shanty town. But this recent series of sweeps and clearances is something new. The downtown area of L.A. has been earmarked for redevelopment and it?s under way in earnest. We know that that?s a good thing, obviously, and we welcome it — the thing is we feel that the homeless people who have been living here have to be integrated into the new development and not just swept aside.?
McLaughlin foresees a project that would integrate the area homeless with the rapidly developing urban neighborhood. ?This area is becoming trendy,? she said. ?My plan is to get a homeless group of musicians together — a band, composed of homeless and non-homeless members — and give them a workshop and rehearsals space to get them ready to perform at the jazz bars that will be opening up here soon.?
Her plan integrates the homeless with their new neighbors, rather than isolating them. But can the gentrification of the area actually countenance a situation where the homeless live cheek by jowl with the well-to-do arrivals? The signs are ominous. ?Twenty-five homeless people were arrested and are now in prison. Many of them have not been released because they had minor records, such as a violated drug-rehabilitation program, say, or there was a warrant out for their arrests,? said McLaughlin. ?It?s been difficult for us to gather any information on their current status — and so we?re appealing to the Irish community to help us find out why this is happening, and what the fate of these homeless people will be. These people who have been living here have to be integrated into the new development and not just swept aside.
?These people have no real place to go. Now that their encampment has been dismantled, they have to go into multiple — and worse — illegal situations. At least at the encampment they had a centralized situation. Now the police have scattered them into other, more dangerous, illegal situations.?
From film to activism
Her commitment to social justice is obvious, but how did a woman who grew up in the most northerly town in Ireland find herself living in Los Angeles?
?I went to college in Dublin and I ended up working in the Irish film and broadcasting industries,? she recalled.
During this time she attended a performance at a comedy club where she met her ventriloquist husband, Strassman. Meeting him for the first time, she was amused when he used his puppets to chat her up. Three months after she met him, she packed up her life and moved to Los Angeles.
Her husband?s grueling schedule includes international bookings as a television host; he?s currently presenting a weekly series in Australia. And at present McLaughlin is based on the other side of the Pacific in Los Angeles, where she is raising her 15-month-old son, Carson, and making room in her schedule to be an activist on behalf of the city?s homeless.
?I have been trying to find my thing — my forte, if you like — for years now,? she said. ?When I worked in film I hoped it was it, but it really wasn?t. I never felt fulfilled. I got into this by accident. You know how food portions in the U.S. are crazy? Any time I had leftover food I?d put it in a take-home box and give it to the people on the streets. I kept thinking about it. Then I got involved with an organization called Food on Foot. We started feeding people every week.?
It was in this way that McLaughlin encountered the darker side of the Hollywood dream. ?So many of the homeless people I met had fallen between the social nets and had lost everything,? she said. ?You have enormous wealth and privilege living just blocks away from skid row. Many came here in search of a Hollywood career, but they went from what a friend of mine calls the streets of fame to the streets of shame.?
McLaughlin is impatient with those who claim that shelters are a long-term response to the problem of homelessness. ?People need to understand that many of these shelters, with a high number of seriously mentally unstable individuals in residence, are actually more dangerous than the streets,? she said. ?Many homeless people prefer to avoid them, understandably, I think.
?What I don?t want to see happening is that the homeless are simply imprisoned en masse — or the sight of politicians in 10 years claiming that they?ve ended homelessness. If the government can get away with denying homeless people their rights, then we move to the front of the line, and then a new social class will appear making our level and realm of life subject to the same abuses.?
The Irish, McLaughlin contended, have a long and impressive history of fighting poverty and displacement and she is appealing to the community for help. The music project she?s planning will bring homeless and non-homeless players together for a weekly jam session, and she hopes to attract many local Irish session players into the ranks. ?I think music breaks down barriers and brings people together, and that?s first on my list of things to do,? she said.