Michael Flores had been living in a homeless encampment near a Van Nuys bus station for at least three years when he was offered a place in a high-profile Los Angeles initiative to get people off the streets.
The pitch from Inside Safe, LA mayor Karen Bass’s signature programme, sounded humane enough: if Flores agreed to leave the encampment, he wouldn’t face any punishment, and a hotel room and social supports were ready and waiting. Mayor Bass proclaims this approach, leading with immediate social services over police sweeps, had “shaken up the entire system.”
