The Los Angeles community of Venice Beach is rich with cultural touchstones: Muscle Beach, a seaside skate park, and the bustling boardwalk filled with street vendors and musicians.
Amid the pandemic it’s also emerged as a microcosm of the homelessness catastrophe in the U.S.’s second-largest city — and a focal point for public anger over the issue in Southern California. The conflict over how to handle it has pitted an aggressive enforcement approach favored by many city leaders against a grassroots movement advocating for a more housing-first, humane way. It's also driving a wedge between neighbors with conflicting views on safety and the need to reclaim public space versus the plight, and rights, of the unhoused.
