How Los Angeles Is Trying to Keep Homeless People Off the Streets

The day was shaping up to be another long one for Freddy Bauer.

He ambled down the stuccoed outdoor hallways of the Hotel Silver Lake, sidestepping the occasional mound of trash, to knock on doors in late August. Mr. Bauer, a case manager, was attending to dozens of people who used to live in the neighborhood’s most persistent homeless encampments in Los Angeles.

Already, a stream of residents had popped into the dimly lit office where Mr. Bauer worked: Had the mail come yet? Was there extra dog food?

A homeless encampment not far from Hotel Silver Lake, where the city is using 55 rooms to keep people off the street. Credit…Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times

There were forms to fill out and appointments to arrange. Then there was the conversation that Mr. Bauer had been dreading for days: telling one resident who had lived there for months that he would have to move out. The man had tampered with locks and broken rules barring visitors a few times too many.

City leaders, led by Mayor Karen Bass, have touted their recent success in cleaning up encampments and moving people indoors. But that progress hinges on the work of Mr. Bauer and hundreds of case managers like him. Their efforts, largely unseen, include finding shelter for people sleeping outside, then trying to keep them from teetering back over the edge. The work is slow and difficult.