HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Hal is a transgender transplant from Tennessee who says he came to California for three reasons: acceptance, legal marijuana, and Medi-Cal.

After spending four months sleeping on Selma Avenue in Hollywood, he reluctantly moved into the neighborhood’s new bridge housing facility on Schrader Boulevard three weeks ago. The facility is part of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “A Bridge Home” program, which aims to build a homeless shelter in every district and then clear nearby encampments.

“I had to make a choice of the lesser of two evils, am I going to die on the sidewalk? Or am I going to take a step up and hope that it leads elsewhere?” Hal said.

Neighbors from the Selma Avenue encampment are adjusting to life together under a roof at the 72-bed facility. About a month ago they were given the choice to either move into the shelter or find somewhere else to sleep. The facility is run by People Assisting The Homeless, also known as PATH.

The city began enforcing a special enforcement and cleaning zone around the shelter on April 8.  New signs say there will be a comprehensive street and sidewalk cleaning in the area between Highland Avenue, Hollywood Boulevard, Cahuenga Boulevard and De Longpre Avenue every Wednesday, and the homeless can no longer store bulky items on the sidewalk.

“I feel like for some of us inside the shelter, it can work,” Hal said, “but they’ve put too many people into this shelter who have no hope of maintaining the investment.”

Hal’s primary concern is that the shelter is understaffed. He and multiple neighbors said there are few enforced rules at the shelter, although they all signed a contract promising no acts or threats of violence, no drugs or alcohol on site, no theft or destruction of property, and no possession or use of weapons.

“I have personally observed theft and reported (it) to staff with zero action,” Hal said.

“You have people who are alcoholics and drug addicts, up and down, in and out, all hours of the night,” said former resident Conner Linsey-Hamilton. “There is no curfew, there is no cut-off for when you can exit and leave.”

Linsey-Hamilton was kicked out of the facility for fighting, but said he was defending himself from an assault and will try to get the decision reversed. Outreach officers from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said they would work to get him new housing.

He’s been in and out of homelessness since he was 13 years old, so tent-life is back to normal.  

“There are people who’ve been living on the street for so long they don’t know how to be inside and be part of a society,” Hal said.

Hal thinks having a bed and a case manager will help him get into permanent housing, but he considers himself an easy case among his neighbors.