As thousands flee LA fires, disaster poses unique challenges for the unhoused
As thousands flee LA fires, disaster poses unique challenges for the unhoused
The multiple wildfires ripping through parts of Los Angeles have sent thousands fleeing from their homes, but disasters like this ones are distinctly affecting people who don’t have ones.
For the roughly 75,000 people in Los Angeles experiencing homelessness, natural disasters like these fires come with additional risks.
“There are challenges with getting access to information, and there are also barriers to accessing shelter,” said Nnenia Campbell with the University of Colorado – Boulder’s Natural Hazards Center.
The evacuation shelters are filling with newly displaced people, even as existing homeless shelters face fire risk.
“We had to evacuate four sites, so roughly close to 300 people just for us,” said Jennifer Hark Dietz, CEO of PATH, a homeless service provider in California. “The Sunset fire came up really quickly, and within a matter of minutes, we had to start figuring out our our plan for evacuation.”
Recovering from a disaster like this can be more challenging for the homeless as well, according to Sarah DeYoung at the University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center.
“Because they’ll have to find new supplies — whether it be tarps, or temporary RV housing, or things that they had set up and that they’ve lost,” she said.
And they’ll be doing it while there’s suddenly a whole new population of people experiencing homelessness — maybe for the first time.
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