LA Family Housing outreach workers Elyssa Rosen and Eric Montoya talk with a resident outside the motorhome she lived in on Tuxford Street in Sun Valley.The City Council’s Transportation Committee approved several resolutions Wednesday that would effectively prevent people from living out of their cars on some northeast San Fernando Valley streets where that activity is still allowed, despite a ban that went into effect earlier this year.
Several of the parking restriction signs would go up in an industrial part of Sun Valley that is home to recycling plants, auto repair shops and manufacturing facilities. Several of the streets in that area have been used for years by homeless individuals to park their cars overnight. She pointed to pictures showing encampments spilling onto sidewalks, one near a sports utility vehicle and another next to a motorhome.that went into effect in January and allows people to live out of their cars along industrial and commercial streets, but bans them from lodging on streets next to residences, parks, schools and daycares. The law replaces an older one from 1983 that was struck down by an appeals court panel.
“It’s easy to stand up and say, ‘Allow people to live in their cars,’ when the issue is not going to be as prevalent in their district, as it will be in mine,” Martinez said. “What people don’t understand is that there is a blurry line, a gray line, between commercial and residential. For example, the community of Sun Valley, you have commercial and residential right up against each other.”