Let me tell you a story of how LA terrorizes unhoused people. Meet “Kevin.” He’s in his forties, a veteran and a cancer survivor. He suffers from severe vision loss, memory loss, dental problems that make it difficult to eat solid food, and mobility issues requiring a cane. 1/

One morning 3 weeks ago Kevin returned to his tent within a Special Enforcement & Cleaning Zone (SECZ) to discover a crew of @LACitySAN dismantling his stuff and crushing it in the back of a garbage truck. Kevin had a baseball bat with him. His friends say he always carries it 2/

Kevin was angry when he saw his stuff being destroyed by strangers in hazmat suits. Even so, he put his bat on the ground and kept his distance from the sanitation workers. It was too late. Within seconds of his arrival the lead sanitation worker had already called the cops. 3/

Several LAPD vehicles, 1 sheriff vehicle and even a helicopter appeared within minutes. Kevin fled on his bicycle. They chased him and shoved him to ground, leaving bruises all over his legs. They arrested him for nothing more than expressing dismay at having his stuff tossed. 4/

That day Kevin lost his mattress, a wheelchair, a cabinet filled with his tools, speakers, brand new tarps, a large unused tent still in the box that he had saved up recycling money to purchase, chairs, a glass table, phones, notebooks, letters from his brother who passed away 5/

He also lost shoes, sandals, blankets, his hair clippers, mustache trimmer, his grandfather’s dolly that he was using to move his stuff around, sleeping bags, diabetes meds, asthma meds, emphysema meds, and a beloved jacket he had since he was a kid. 6/

Kevin was held for 3 days without access to a shower or phone calls. They strapped an ankle monitor on him and released him. Time will tell whether he will face prison time for the incident. 7/

After his release, he received a donated tent and began living in a new location. Today he decided it would be best to stay in a shelter. He took his cane and made his way over to the nearest A Bridge Home (ABH) shelter, taking rests along the way since walking is difficult. 8/

He waited outside the shelter for several minutes as the security guard fetched a case worker. When the case worker finally emerged, she confirmed that there were empty beds available. But... 9/

...turns out this case worker doesn’t cover Kevin’s geographic region. She can only refer people to this ABH shelter if they come from Boyle Heights. Kevin can’t stay here without a referral and she can’t give him one. No other case workers were at the shelter who could help 10/

This case worker said the best she could do was put in a request for another case worker to reach out to Kevin at a future date. She warned him that the process to get into the shelter would take about two weeks—even though there were open beds right now. 11/

To sum up: an ABH shelter opens in one location, triggering an enforcement zone (SECZ) in the surrounding area. That SECZ gets swept weekly, leading to people like Kevin having all of their possessions destroyed and being punished with arrest when they dare to protest. 12/

Kevin then moves to a second location near a second ABH shelter, surrounded by its own oppressive SECZ, and when he tries to get one of the vacant beds at that shelter he is turned away for bureaucratic, jurisdictional reasons. 13/

SECZ zones are created to criminalize homelessness in the areas around ABH shelters. It’s a NIMBY negotiation: If housed residents are charitable enough to allow a shelter in their neighborhood then they earn the power to erase all remaining people off the street. 14/

Never mind that the ABH shelters are rarely large enough to house the populations that live on the streets within their accompanying zones. Never mind that even when there are vacant beds, unhoused people who eagerly ask for them are turned away. 15/

If you don’t get a vacant shelter bed you get arrested and have your belongings destroyed. If you do ask for a vacant shelter bed you get turned away. This is @MayorOfLA’s very on-brand incompetence. For more info on this travesty check out http://homesnotzones.com  16/16