LOS ANGELES, CA – Residents in Los Angeles’ El Sereno neighborhood are demanding action over a sprawling homeless encampment on Fithian Avenue that they say has restricted access to a public sidewalk and created increasingly difficult conditions for nearby homeowners.
The encampment is occupied by a mother and her adult son, according to information gathered about the situation.
Both have acknowledged receiving outreach and offers of assistance but have declined to move into a shelter.
Neighbors say the encampment has expanded across the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians to maneuver around tents, belongings and other items occupying the public right-of-way.
Some residents said their frustration intensified after receiving communications from homeless outreach workers associated with Council District 14 indicating that the man living at the encampment was from the neighborhood, felt comfortable at the location and was reluctant to leave.
Residents pushed back against the idea that a person’s connection to the neighborhood should allow a public sidewalk to remain obstructed.
Several homeowners said they also grew up in El Sereno and questioned why their own ability to safely use the sidewalk appeared to receive less consideration.
El Sereno is represented by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado in Los Angeles City Council District 14, which also includes Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, Eagle Rock, Highland Park and portions of downtown Los Angeles.
Earlier this year, Jurado’s office launched a dedicated homelessness outreach operation known as the LOVE Team — Leading Outreach with Valued Engagement, in partnership with Urban Alchemy.
The CD14-funded team conducts daily outreach in neighborhoods including El Sereno and is tasked with connecting people experiencing homelessness with housing placements, health services, crisis intervention and other assistance.
According to the council office, the program is based on repeated, relationship-focused engagement rather than a single contact or immediate enforcement action.
That approach appears to be at the center of the dispute on Fithian Avenue.
The people living at the encampment said assistance had been offered but that they did not want to enter a shelter.
Authorities have not said whether another form of housing has been offered or whether a permanent housing placement is currently available to them.
The situation comes as Los Angeles continues debating how aggressively the city should use Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 41.18, the ordinance governing sitting, lying, sleeping and storing property in portions of the public right-of-way.
Section 41.18 includes a general provision prohibiting a person from obstructing a street, sidewalk or other public right-of-way in a manner that impedes passage under accessibility standards. It also allows the City Council to designate specific locations where additional restrictions apply.
That distinction is important in the El Sereno case.
The City Council voted Aug. 18 to remove 12 previously designated Section 41.18 enforcement locations in Council District 13, according to the official Los Angeles City Clerk record.
Those locations are in Council District 13, not El Sereno.
El Sereno is in Council District 14, meaning the council’s removal of those 12 specific enforcement zones did not itself eliminate Section 41.18 protections or enforcement citywide, nor did it directly remove a Fithian Avenue designation.
The city clerk record shows the Council adopted the CD13 item on Aug. 18 after Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez moved to reverse the earlier site designations.
The broader ordinance remains in effect.
Under Section 41.18, no person may obstruct a public sidewalk by sitting, lying, sleeping or placing property in a manner that impedes passage as defined by applicable accessibility requirements.
The ordinance also contains additional restrictions involving areas near driveways and other specifically designated locations.
Whether the Fithian Avenue encampment legally meets the threshold for an enforceable obstruction has not been publicly determined by the city.
No citation, arrest or removal order has been announced in connection with the site.
Residents, however, contend the practical issue is straightforward: they say portions of the sidewalk cannot be used normally.
The dispute therefore involves both homelessness policy and pedestrian access.
For people using wheelchairs, walkers, strollers or other mobility devices, a blocked sidewalk can create a more serious problem than simply requiring pedestrians to walk around an obstacle.
Residents said they want the city to preserve access to the public right-of-way while continuing to offer services to the people living there.
There is no indication that neighbors interviewed about the encampment are asking that homelessness services be eliminated.
Their complaints have instead focused on why outreach has not resulted in the sidewalk being cleared after the people living there declined shelter.
The CD14 outreach model emphasizes voluntary engagement.
The council office says its LOVE Team is designed to build trust, assess individual needs, provide crisis intervention and help residents move into housing or supportive services when placements become possible.
The team also distributes food, hygiene supplies, tents and naloxone while maintaining contact with people who remain unhoused.
Jurado’s office has described that strategy as an attempt to replace fragmented, short-term interventions with consistent outreach tailored to individual circumstances.
For homeowners living near the Fithian Avenue encampment, however, the amount of time required by that process has become part of the frustration.
Residents argue that voluntary outreach and the preservation of usable sidewalks should not be mutually exclusive.
The mother and son living at the site have confirmed that they do not currently want to enter a shelter.
They have not publicly detailed why they declined the offers or what type of accommodation was proposed.
Shelter refusal also does not necessarily mean a person has rejected all forms of housing assistance, since temporary congregate shelters, motel placements and permanent supportive housing can involve different conditions.
No information has been released about whether alternative placements have been discussed in this case.
The city has not announced a timetable for clearing or reducing the Fithian Avenue encampment.
It also has not said whether sanitation crews, accessibility inspectors or law enforcement have formally evaluated the sidewalk obstruction.
Residents seeking assistance from the district can contact the Council District 14 El Sereno office at 323-226-1646. The office is located at 4927 Huntington Drive North.
The encampment remained in place as the dispute continued over how the city should balance voluntary homeless outreach, neighborhood conditions and public access to sidewalks.
