![]() ![]() After years of back-and-forth in which activists would bring toilets to Skid Row only to have the city remove them, 26 portable toilets were added in 1994. Branded by the media and the LAPD as a haven for drugs and sex work, they have functioned for decades as a key battleground in what the late writer and scholar Mike Davis called “the city’s war on the homeless”. Toilets on Skid Row have always been political. ‘The business community wanted them gone’ ![]() “We know it’s not enough,” says Lance Oishi, contract administrator at StreetsLA, the city agency tasked with managing 15 public toilets in Los Angeles. “Was there a feasibility study done to make sure that this satisfies the need?” Nobody’s ready to admit that Skid Row is here to stay Alice Callaghan On the October morning of the toilet installation, Montgomery Garnett, a resident of Skid Row, walks up to a group of city workers who assembled to watch. LA county’s unhoused population reached more than 69,000 at the latest count, while on Skid Row – a longstanding symbol of the US housing crisis – the number of people living unsheltered grew by over 50% in the past six years, according to figures from the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (Lahsa)’s annual count. With pandemic-era protections for renters scheduled to end within weeks, experts say 30,000 households risk being evicted. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty ImagesĬonditions have taken on increased urgency amid a worsening homelessness crisis. Tents in the Skid Row community last year. According to the LA county health department, the lack of hygiene and sanitation leaves residents at risk of contracting staph, meningitis, tuberculosis, hepatitis A, typhus and more. Unhoused Angelenos are often left with no option but to relieve themselves outdoors, then are demonized for leaving behind human waste. The result is a vicious cycle, advocates say. There are currently about 31 toilets available at all hours, according to a Guardian review of public facilities and information provided by the city – still far short of the UN standard. While the situation has improved, Skid Row’s population has grown. ![]() Five years ago, a report called No Place to Go found that Skid Row had just nine public toilets available at night for about 1,800 people then living there – 80 toilets short of the UN standard for a refugee camp. The challenge is compounded by the fact that many toilets are shut down overnight. Residents must make do with a patchwork of public bathrooms and porta-potties that are operated by overlapping municipal programs, shelters and non-profit groups. ![]()
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