The LAPD's crackdown on skid row encampments is producing some unexpected migration patterns among the homeless that has officials puzzled.
The crackdown, in which police officers allow street camping only at night, appears to have slightly increased the number of tents on skid row at night but reduced the district's homeless population during the day, according to interviews and Los Angeles Police Department statistics.
With fewer homeless people around during the day, some skid row services organizations said they are seeing fewer transients seeking services.
Moreover, there are indications that some of the homeless from skid row are moving into other neighborhoods, including the industrial area to the east near the Los Angeles River as well as into Olvera Street and perhaps even farther west.
LAPD officers and homeless services officials in Venice said they have talked to homeless people in the last few days who said they came from downtown L.A.
There is general agreement that it is too early to say for sure how the LAPD crackdown is changing where homeless people live. But officials agree that the increased police presence has altered the skid row landscape.
"People just scatter when they see the police," said Greg Ware, 49, who uses the skid row shelters. "They're just shuffling people around."
It's been nearly a month since the LAPD deployed an extra 50 officers to patrol skid row. Two weeks ago, the LAPD began arresting some homeless people who were camping on skid row streets during the day.
An LAPD nighttime head count of the homeless there showed the number of tents rising by 37 to 534 and the transient population rising from 1,447 two weeks ago to 1,476.
Police and social services providers agree that during the day, some homeless now avoid skid row, which is 50 blocks roughly bounded by 3rd Street on the north, 7th Street on the south, Main Street on the west and Alameda Street on the east.
LAPD Capt. Andrew Smith said some homeless people are moving to the east past San Pedro Street, then returning to skid row at night to sleep. Other skid row denizens have sought refuge to the north around Olvera Street.
An encampment has sprung up next to a church on Main Street near Cesar Chavez Avenue, close to Chinatown. There also are reports that some homeless people have moved as far south as 12th Street. There are no exact numbers because the LAPD doesn't do homeless counts outside of skid row.
