By Jon Wolff
Jon Wolff: What are some developments with the Inside Safe program this past month?
Michael Ridley: There has been no type of development. People are being kicked out of their rooms. People are losing their storage. People that qualified for Section 8 have not received the voucher like they [the City] said they would. And people that aren’t in Inside Safe have received Section 8 vouchers. One of the occupants that was in Inside Safe received a Section 8 voucher, and when she looked online, her voucher was being occupied by someone else.
JW: Are the administrators just being indiscriminate about how they manage this program?
MR: Yes. Basically, they’re selling the Section 8 vouchers, and giving the people that can’t afford to buy the Section 8 vouchers third party checks. And then kicking them out of the motel rooms or shuffling them around.
JW: Are they telling the occupants of the motels to move out without any provision for housing at all?
MR: The people are giving up. If they’re not following the rules, they’re being kicked out of the motels. They’re not even getting water or their once-a-month food cards anymore. One of the girls had a baby and she’s still in the motel room.
JW: With a newborn baby?
MR: With a newborn baby.
JW: Are any of the program administrators giving any special care and consideration to that situation?
MR: No.
JW: Do they have any answer for why they’re not able to do that?
MR: Well, if she can’t afford to buy a Section 8 voucher, or if her information is being used somewhere else with that voucher…
JW: They’re using one person’s information to establish another person in the program?
MR: Another person who’s not even in the program.
JW: Hmm.
MR: People have lost their storage through this Inside Safe Program. They’ve lost their kids’ belongings and their personal items. People that have been kicked out of the program or have passed on to the next life… St. Joseph’s Center staff are taking their items. They’re stealing their items. A guy passed on to the next life. And when the family went to retrieve his personal belongings, they were no longer inside the shared living area because St. Joseph’s Center went in there and took them.
JW: What would you like people to know about this?
MR: That what the people were promised when they were taken from 3rd Street, and housed in these motels, and promised Section 8 vouchers… They have not received what they signed up for. All the information has been exposed. Me and my cousin lost our Section 8 voucher because we were told to opt out of our voucher, and that we were going to receive emergency Section 8 vouchers. We never received them.
JW: Do you feel that this is in retaliation for getting this information out?
MR: Yeah.
JW: The program is doing a lot of runaround.
MR: Since people have been in the Inside Safe program, a lot of people have lost their lives, more than when they were on 3rd Street. We didn’t have as many deaths or overdoses on 3rd Street or Hampton or Sunset or Flower or wherever they were moving these people from. Since they moved these people out to South L.A., we’ve had more deaths. People that are getting kicked out are ending up in MacArthur Park. All the people that are kicked out of the motels and run away from the streets of Venice are at MacArthur Park. People that were in shared living are at MacArthur Park. I went down there… I couldn’t believe that that’s where all my people are at.
JW: They used to be in Venice and now they’re in MacArthur Park?
MR: Some of the women that were on 3rd Street… They are “branded”. They have tattoos. The MS-13 [Mara Salvatrucha gang] branded their ass. They are a product of them now. They’re branded right on their buttocks.
JW: This is the information people don’t know about.
MR: They [the City] aren’t helping anybody. And it’s sad. The people that they put in the motels… A lot of people have passed over to the next life. And if not, then they’re on their way. Because now they’re out there at MacArthur Park. The women don’t have their hair anymore. They have cigarette burns. And they can’t talk to me. I try to talk to them and they have to keep moving, because they’re watched at all times. I understand. It’s sad what they became when they were taken from 3rd Street. I’m sad about this. These people were a family to me. It’s sad.