DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - Armed with pressure washers, sanitation crews are going through skid row trying to rid downtown of the growing problem of an infection causing bacteria and other diseases.
It's a tall task because of all of the trash building up and the over used public restrooms on city streets, which also require a regular wash down and chemical cleaning.
Wendell Blassingame has spent 20 years living on skid row, six of them living on the streets.
He now works as a homeless advocate and he says the complaints about the filth are piling up.
“For the last month or so they've been bringing their attention to me about different rashes on the skin and getting bit because the rodents," said Blassingame.
One woman that he went to visit told him that she was bitten by a rat and hasn't been able to get any care.
If that wasn't enough, Blassingame said, “[there’s] not enough restrooms in skid row people have to urinate and defecate somewhere.”
The foot traffic helps contribute to the spread of disease.
“You're going to be taking them into the hotels and taking them into the tent,” he said.
It's a problem that reaches far beyond skid row.
One woman, who wished not to reveal her identity said, “We're all feeling the effects of it. Not just those of us who have our nice little cozy apartments, but the people who live on the street.”
Outside her home in downtown L.A. she said she constantly sees drug use and people relieving themselves.
“Those of us who want to be proactive, we try to create a community but we're not getting support. We're not getting a 10th of the support that we need from our leadership,” she said.
The effort to get downtown cleaned up is uniting the entire community.
“The more trash that's taken off the streets, the more that we have pride in the area that we live and work in. We will be able to resolve this problem,” said Blassingame.
Hopefully he's right.
With the potential for disease to spread, it's becoming a race against the clock, especially in light of the staggering new numbers from the annual Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count.
Among other things, Tuesday's report from count showed:
- Overall homelessness - which had declined slightly a year ago - rose by 12 percent
- An increase to 58,936 homeless individuals - up from 52,765 - across L.A. County
- Homelessness in the City of Los Angeles rose 16 percent to 36,300
- Homelessness among veterans decreased slightly to 3,874
- Family homelessness increased by 6.4 percent
- Youth homelessness increased by 24 percent
- Chronic homelessness increased by 17 percent
- Homelessness among seniors increased by 8.2 percent
- 23 percent of the homeless people counted were experiencing homelessness for the first time
- The number of people living in tents or makeshift shelters increased 17 percent
- The number of people living in their vehicles increased by 5 percent