The Truth About The Inside Safe Program – Part 5

By Jon Wolff

For almost two years, the mayor and the L.A. City Council have operated a program to house unhoused people. It’s called the “Inside Safe” program. They have congratulated themselves for their efforts to solve the problem of homelessness in Los Angeles. Much of the local news coverage gives the impression that the Inside Safe program has been largely successful. But the Free Venice Beachhead has reported a different version based on the testimonies of real people directly affected by the program.

Homelessness Advocate Michael Ridley works extensively with unhoused people in Venice. He and the late Garry Featherstone had organized the encampment on 3rd Avenue into a supportive and orderly environment for the people living in tents there. They directed food and services to the people, and they conducted regular wellness checks on the tents. When L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park took office, her first action was to break up the 3rd Avenue encampment and process the people through the Inside Safe program. What should have served as a model project for providing care and services to unhoused people was the first to be targeted for displacement by the new regime.

The people were taken from the encampments on 3rd, as well as other Venice locations on Hampton, Sunset, Flower, and also Venice Boulevard near Sepulveda. They were put into motels down in South L.A., where they were promised Section 8 vouchers for more stable, permanent housing. But the Section 8 vouchers were never provided. Moreover, the program overseers from the St. Joseph’s Center withheld the food and water that was funded through the program. And the funding that was designated to pay for the storage of the people’s personal belongings ran out in ninety days, which caused many people to lose their belongings.

St. Joseph’s allowed a drug program to deliver drug paraphernalia to the motels. The possession of this same drug paraphernalia was then cited as a reason to expel people from the motels. While the City was counting the people in the motels as evidence of a successful program, the operators of the program were putting the people back on the streets.

Reports on the Inside Safe program often carry numbers, figures, and percentages to show the program’s effectiveness, without naming the actual human beings that the program claims to help. Michael Ridley has provided the Beachhead with a list of the names of the people who were displaced from Venice by the City’s Inside Safe program, and who have now “moved on to the next life”. The cause of death, if known, is included in this list.

1. Bo: He was a veteran. He died of a fentanyl overdose.
2. Trent Rhone: He suffered a fatal heart attack in a motel room.
3. Mermaid: She died of an overdose in a motel room.
4. Tulsy: She was raped and beaten to death in MacArthur Park.
5. Two Tone: His cause of death is unknown, possibly an overdose.
6. Louie: His cause of death is unknown.
7. Kevin Davis: He was beaten on the head, and died on Lincoln Boulevard.
8. Karma: Her cause of death is unknown.
9. Carol: Her cause of death is unknown.
10. Debo: She died of pneumonia on the streets.
11. T-Bone: His cause of death is unknown.
12. Ferrett: He died of an overdose.
13. Lay Lay: He died of an overdose in a shared living facility.
14. Chaquito: He suffered seven seizures in a motel, and died in a hospital.
15. Andre: His cause of death is unknown.
16. Pinky: He died of an overdose under a bridge on Lincoln Boulevard near Jefferson Boulevard.
17. Aaron: His cause of death is unknown.
18. C Note: He died of a fentanyl overdose on Pico Boulevard and Barrington Avenue.
19. Trashy Treasure: Her cause of death is unknown.
20. Woody: He died in an R.V. fire on Jefferson Boulevard.
Venice also lost Garry Featherstone himself last year. Mr. Featherstone looked after the encampment on 3rd Avenue in Venice, and he wrote compelling pieces for the Beachhead.
Not listed in this article are the men and women who have not died but are back on the streets after having been counted as housed by the Inside Safe program.