Many homeless people need a bridge to housing in Los Angeles, advocates have said. These unfortunate souls just decided to live in the bridge.
A nonprofit leader, Juan Naula, made a disturbing discovery this week: a man and woman living inside a crawl space in a bridge near the LA River.
“People are living on the pillars of a bridge—this is the reality in our city,” he wrote in an Instagram caption.
One of the bridge residents, Gustavo, said he’s been living there with his girlfriend for three years. Conditions inside the space were bleak, reminiscent of the same living environment a woman endured inside a storm drain in Los Angeles.
The space smelled of smoke from a fire the pair lit to keep warm and of urine, NBC LA reported.
Naula said the couple told him that the “bank” took over their homes and left them without a home.
“The bank took over the houses and that’s why they ended up here,” Naula told NBC LA.
He offered the couple food and water, which they accepted.
“I’m trying to do whatever I can. Sometimes people don’t want help, it’s OK, but this lady wanted to get help,” he explained.
Naula has been helping people in LA since he moved to the area a year-and-a-half ago from the East Coast. He runs the popular Clean LA With Me Instagram account.
He said the bridge dwelling, another in a series of abhorrent conditions he’s found homeless people living in, makes him emotional.
“I want to cry,” Naula told NBC LA. “This is not acceptable. I don’t accept it.”