Los Angeles residents’ fury over massive homeless encampment stealing their electricity

Residents living next to a sprawling homeless encampment which sprung up in Los Angeles are complaining its occupants are stealing their electricity.

Locals in the Koreatown neighborhood are furious over the ‘tiny city’, which has popped up and boasts a makeshift tennis court, barbecue pit, and a garden.

‘It’s a city in there. It’s crazy. It’s crazy,’ nearby resident Max Smith told ABC 7.

The area is littered with trash and locals have also reported open air drug use.

Recently neighbors say they have noticed extension cords running across the street from the encampment to nearby structures, KTLA reports.

Sangmin Lee told ABC 7 that the homeless camp members ripped out a streetlight, put a surge protector inside of it, and hooked it up to an extension cord.

‘Thank God it hasn’t rained in a while,’ Lee said. ‘It’s a fire hazard…then they run the cable across the street, and it’s a trip hazard for everyone.’

Residents said the city has been notified of the massive camp that sits in an empty lot by Manhattan Place, but nothing has been done as it sits on private property.

A sprawling homeless encampment has popped up in the Koreatown neighborhood and has become a ‘tiny city’ complete with a makeshift tennis court, barbecue pit, and a garden

Some nearby residents have noticed the camp is running extension cords across the street (pictured) to siphon off electricity

Sangmin Lee said: ‘Thank God it hasn’t rained in a while. It’s a fire hazard…then they run the cable across the street, and it’s a trip hazard for everyone’

Outreach teams have been sent to the camp from Mayor Karen Bass’ office, they told KTLA.

‘It is entirely unacceptable for private property owners to allow their lots to become a nuisance and a danger to the community,’ Bass said in a statement.

A local woman said some of the homeless people are destroying property and openly selling drugs, including in front of her daughter, she told KTLA.

‘They blew up two cars,’ Sasha, who did not give her last name, said. ‘It started off as a clean tent area, and then going to the store, they were passing drugs … in broad daylight.’

Residents have become scared to walk their dogs and go out by themselves as some of the unhoused people approach them when they’re alone, a woman told ABC 7.

A reporter from ABC 7 was also threatened when visiting the camp.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky said the reason the camp is still there is due to red tape from it being located on private property.

Lee told ABC 7 that the homeless camp members ripped out a streetlight, put a surge protector inside of it (pictured), and hooked it up to an extension cord

Residents said the city has been notified of the massive camp that sits in an empty lot by Manhattan Place, but nothing has been done as it sits on private property

‘There’s [a] different path and that path is convoluted,’ she told the outlet. ‘It’s over-bureaucratic. It’s the city at its worst, sort of not being able to get out of its own way.’

The property is registered to a limited liability company in Delaware.

The company has been working with the city and it is expected that no trespassing signs will go up shortly, which will allow police to intervene.

The city’s Public Works Department will also be placing anti-vandal wrap around the street light to stop the encampment from stealing electricity, ABC 7 reported.