Encampments, Urban

The past fifteen years have seen a rapid growth in the number of homeless men, women, and children living in street camps. Although shelters and emergency services are available, most are filled early in the day or have restrictions, both formal and informal, that limit access to their programs. As a result, shelters and other homeless services programs are unable to meet the complex needs of the broader homeless population. For example, many restrict services to adults, or to men or women, and others do not accept people with health problems such as HIV, mental illness, or drug or alcohol addiction. Thus, semipermanent encampments of homeless people have emerged in many urban settings. These encampments are generally collections of makeshift dwellings constructed of cardboard boxes, scrap wood, plastic sheeting, and other discarded materials. While some encampments are assembled in public places such as on sidewalks or in vacant lots, others are more concealed from public view, springing up along riverbanks and train tracks, under freeway overpasses or bridges, and in alleys or in shrubbery along open highways, freeway on-ramps, and access roads. This entry focuses on encampments in Los Angeles (Cousineau 1997, 2001), the location of the most recent and comprehensive research on the topic.

Researchers studied the physical conditions in the camps and the health status of encampment residents, including substance use and abuse and substance abuse treatment and their access to and use of health care services, including tuberculosis and HIV screening services. The study area was limited to the central Los Angeles area, which includes the financial district, skid row, and the areas surrounding the immediate downtown area: Chinatown, South Park, MacArthur Park, and the industrial areas on the east, among them. Residents of these encampments were interviewed by one of fourteen formerly homeless people who are currently employed as peer counselors in organizations serving the homeless.

Although more than 100 sites were mapped, 54 sites were selected in the target area for site visits and resident interviews. Interviews were conducted with 134 residents of 42 camps, with only two people refusing to be interviewed. The camps ranged in size from one to twenty people and had an average of five occupants. The majority were men; children were seen in only one camp. Two-thirds of the respondents were men. Two people described themselves as transgendered. More than 94 percent of respondents were under the age of 65, with 42 percent between the ages of 30 and 39. More than 50 percent of the respondents were African-American, 34 percent were Hispanic, and 7 percent were Caucasian. Two of the respondents were Asians. Fewer than 20 percent of the men (and none of the women) were veterans, and more than 65 percent were born in the United States; 20 percent, in Los Angeles.

Encampment residents may differ somewhat from [Page 128]homeless people living in the heart of downtown skid row. For example, 21 percent of the respondents in earlier studies in skid row were Latino, compared with about 33 percent of encampment respondents. Downtown and shelter residents overall tend to be slightly younger compared with encampment residents, and nearly two-thirds were single compared with a little more than half of the encampment residents.

...