On the streets of LA

For quite some time, I've been wanting to talk to homeless men and women, to learn their stories, to know how they ended up living on the street, without a roof over their heads, without food, without showers or restrooms. In an online reporting class at the University of Southern California, we were told to report on a topic of our choice in a specific neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles. I saw it as the perfect opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone, outside my bubble, and explore an environment so foreign to me. 

I met Kevin Johnson, a crack cocaine addict, by pure accident. My friend and I were driving around, in the search for homeless carts and tents to photograph, and desperately looking for a homeless men or women willing to share part of their life story. Suddenly we saw a couple of men sorting trash bins, trying to find cans to recycle for a tiny bit of money. I went up to one of them, Sam. He wanted me to pay him. Then I hear someone yelling, "I'll have a story for you, come here!" And then he just started talking, so eloquently, so beautifully, but so sadly. 

This is his story. 

I asked him about homeless shelters, whether or not he found them helpful for drug rehabilitation. They're not, in his opinion. Drug addicts find ways to sneak in substances regardless of the rules, he said. So I wanted to talk to homeless shelters staff and clients to know a little bit more. And that's when I found People Helping People, a shelter who had to close down in this past January. 

After I turned in my project, my interest for the homeless community did not go away. I'm currently working on an investigative piece about police presence and alleged abuse on Skid Row.