City cracks down on tiny wooden houses for the homeless

City officials are cracking down on the proliferation of tiny wooden homes designed to replace tents in L.A.’s homeless encampments, the L.A. Times reported.

They began impounding the homes earlier this month and are planning further sweeps in a bid to wipe out the miniature dwellings, claiming they are a health and safety hazard. A previous sweep of the homes, which line overpasses along the 110 Freeway, turned up needles, drug set ups and even a gun, they said.

“They are only homes for prostitution, shooting up, smoking up,” June Ellen Richard, a resident of the neighborhood, told the Times.

But homeless advocates say the city is unfairly seizing the homes while providing no alternative shelter for the homeless population.

Elvis Summers, who built and donated the structures, said the tiny houses give homeless people some dignity.

“These people are beaten down so hard, you give them any opportunity to be normal, it lifts them up,” he said. [LAT] – Katherine Clarke