A 70% surge in Los Angeles County’s homeless population since 2015 has deepened West Hollywood’s struggles with crime and public services, prompting urgent talks at the June 16 Public Safety Commission meeting. Residents voiced concern over neighborhood safety, while officials unveiled strategies to address homelessness.
Residents Peter Brack of Rangely Ave and Anita Goswami of Ashcroft Ave spoke about recent break-ins and car thefts. Brack cited two attempted burglaries at 8925 Ashcroft caught on video, fueling a 100-household WhatsApp group’s anxiety. “We’re longing for communication and partnership,” Brack said, noting five weeks of unanswered requests for a sheriff-led safety meeting. Goswami recalled a 1990s sheriff collaboration that caught burglars, urging renewed efforts. “We worked together,” she said. “This can be done.” Acting Captain Fanny Lapkin apologized, promising a meeting and noting crime is trending down in that specific area due to undercover patrols. A sheriff’s decoy car had also been vandalized several times. “We’re working with our special teams, other bureaus to come and assist us with some of the residential burglaries incidents happening in the city,” she added.
The commission reviewed the city’s homelessness response, led by Christine Safriet, Acting Director of Human Services and Rent Stabilization, and Francisco Gomez, Transportation Program Administrator. They reported West Hollywood’s homeless count rising from 40 to 85 since 2016, mirroring the county’s 70% increase driven by housing costs, stagnant wages and scarce mental health care. Despite over 360 permanent housing placements since 2017—tripling from 24 to 72 annually by 2024—service refusals persist, with only seven of 107 offers accepted last month.
The City Council approved a Coordinated Response Framework (CRF) on June 9, establishing a multidisciplinary team with shared protocols and legal tools like SB 43 and Care Court for chronic service refusers. Holloway Interim Housing, opening this summer with pet-friendly rooms, targets the chronically homeless. “Holloway Interim Housing Program fills a critical gap,” Gomez said.
Commissioner Tod Hallman praised the Holloway Interim Housing Program while questioning call line access, “I went on a ride along with a deputy… there was a young individual who said he wanted assistance, but all of his personal belongings were there so he couldn’t just take off to get assistance. He needed someone to come to him and I remember watching the deputy struggle to get anyone on the phone. And then the commissioner that I was with, we started to try to get people on the phone and we couldn’t get anyone on the phone. How easy will it be for law enforcement, block by block and residents to access these numbers and get an immediate response, so people can get the help that they need?” Safriet replied, “The homeless concern line has been active for more than a year. The care team line, we recently made a public phone number available for direct calls. Before those calls were being routed through the city and now there is direct access to the care team for dispatch. We also have instituted weekly outreach between the care team and our healthcare and action teams with the sheriffs. We’re looking at either live responses or call backs within 15 minutes.”
Commissioners highlighted the need for effective outreach, with the commission noting the low 7% acceptance rate reflects challenges in connecting with the unhoused, a gap the CRF aims to address through coordinated efforts.
Commissioner George S. Nickle said, “One of my best friends was homeless for about 5 years. I asked her why the acceptance numbers are so low every month. She told me the most important thing is peer support.” Gomez elaborated, “Peer Support specialists must have lived experience. Some of them have experienced homelessness themselves some were in prison or have a history of mental illness in their families. There’s a variety of experiences that the the care team looks for when hiring Peer Support Specialists. He also noted that Peer Support specialists have fairly recent become available 24/7, raising hopes that the strategy will start to make a difference.
Commissioner Catherine Eng praised neighborhood involvement, saying, “You have the essential components of safety, which is neighborhood involvement… that you’re all communicating with each other is amazing.” She commended residents like Brack and Goswami for engaging with Lapkin, noting this collaboration enhances safety amid the homelessness crisis.
If I see one more attempt to correlate homelessness to high cost of housing or stagnant wages instead of the ACTUAL CAUSES which are meth and untreated mental illness I am going to immolate myself in from of Beaches Tropicana. If these people were required to write a check for zero dollars on the first of every month, they would be mentally incapable of doing so. these people need to be ROUNDED UP AGAINST THEIR WILL and institutionalized or imprisoned so they can be properly cared for and so society can be properly cared for. Where are the police??
There is an RV parked on Fairfax Avenue, two blocks south of Santa Monica Blvd. on the east side of the street. It has no license plates, and the RV’s occupant has been seen dealing drugs from the RV. Despite numerous calls to parking enforcement, social services and the sheriffs department, the local business owners have been getting a runaround, and the problem continues to fester. There must be a better way to solve these problems on behalf of tax paying businesses.
Vigilantism
Protection of residents and the businesses that serve them and pay taxes that support their city in no way can be described as “vigilantism” and your use of the word illustrates your misunderstanding of it.
LIBERALISM IS SOCIAL DECAY – YOU VOTE FOR THE DEMORATS – YOU DESERVE CRIME
VOYE FOR DEMOCRATS AND YOU DESERVE TO BE ROBBED AT GUN POINT
We should do whatever Beverly Hills is doing. They don’t have the homelessness issues we have.
but we won’t.
lol watching this is so funny from afar. Defund the police and they wonder why crime is up. Throw billions of dollars at homelessness and homelessness gets worse. West Hollywood and LA as a whole has become a disgusting h*ll hole of the uber rich and disgusting drug addicted homeless. And it’s these fools who y’all elected to address it. Call back Sepi – she was my favorite clown to watch with all her “firsts”.
You’re right, Joan. This city/state is run by one party rule..one train of thought. No other voices are heard because it’s all controlled by one party. Failed policy after failed policy and people keep voting the same way. Very definition of insanity. Shyne was such a joke. Thank God the city is rid of her…and the state dodged a bullet. She failed miserably when she ran for higher office. One time the voters got it right. (Not that who they did elect was much better). We have a huge hole to dig ourselves out of and we have no one… Read more »
The continued refusing help needs to be met with, “You aren’t going to sleep on the side of the road. Either take the help or we’ll move you.”
LA is a classic breakdown of society. Decades of dreadful decisions have come to roost.
And now will have the same simple minded politicians pandering again…..to the same “victim class” whose misguided morals, lack of responsibility and utter helplessness have overburdened the society to the point of chaos.
As the “productive class” (aka tax base)…..continues to depart….the outcome is irreversible.
Yup. It’s so sad what has happened to our once great state and city. People need to wake up and start voting differently.