Homeless encampment on empty lot ‘festering’ problem in Koreatown – NBC Los Angeles

Some Koreatown neighbors Monday raised the alarm over a homeless encampment on an empty lot with worsening conditions. 

The lot on Manhattan Place between 7th and 8th streets is a residential area, largely surrounded by apartment buildings, just three blocks from Wilton Place Elementary School. 

But despite the no-trepassing sign and the black fence around it, homeless people have been moving into the lot, setting up their own community with tents, furniture, trash and other household items. 

Neighbors said the number of people who appear to be living on the lot has grown in recent months.

“They started coming one by one. Now it’s too many,” said Ricardo Recinos. “Not safe for us anymore. No more.”

Other neighbors said criminal activity in the area may be tied to the homeless encampment.

“It’s been a growing concern,” said Lewis Pak, who lives near the lot. “We have been hearing of a lot of break-ins, wandering people. We definitely see people coming in and out.”

One unhoused woman who stayed at the encampment for one night told NBC Los Angeles it was the largest encampment she had seen or been to.

“I will go place to place,” said Chelsy Nicholson, who has been homeless for four years. She is now awaiting final approval after the city offered her housing recently. 

Mayor Karen Bass’ Office said it’s dispatching outreach workers to the growing encampment on the Manhattan Place lot to engage with the unhoused.

“It is entirely unacceptable for private property owners to allow their lots to become a nuisance and a danger to the community,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. “All necessary city departments are responding to this location to hold the owner accountable and to keep the community safe.”

Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky whose district includes Koreatown emailed her constituents, saying she’s working on strengthening enforcement that would make property owners more accountable.  

A spokesperson for Yaroslavsky’s office told NBC Los Angeles Monday that the Department of Building and Safety is in touch with the property owner, and they are working on clearing the lot. 

“Our office has been working to move the city to act on this for several months. Because it’s private property, there is a whole process set up that often takes years,” Yaroslavsky’s office said in a statement.

But the councilmember’s office also blamed “city bureaucracy” for causing “years of delays” before anything moves along, adding the current system in LA requests “compliance instead of demanding accountability.”

NBCLA reached out to the property owner but did not hear back.