The Brief

If you follow any cat rescue groups online, you know this time of year is rough.

You’ll see messages like these, from local nonprofits like Boyle Heights Cats, Luxe Paws and The Cat’s Meow:

“Fosters Needed Urgently”

“9 times out of 10 your garage, bathroom or basement can save a life.”

“This is an urgent plea for fosters to… help out during the 2 most challenging months of the year.”

The combination of more people taking summer vacations and the height of kitten season — the time of year when cats are most fertile — means organizations are overwhelmed trying to find fosters to care temporarily for rescues, trappers available to catch them and vets able to spay/neuter and vaccinate cats. It’s a difficult time for animal shelters too.

“So if you find kittens, if your neighbor finds kittens, if you find a cat, see what resources you can access or what resources the shelter has, and do your best,” says Dr. Kate Hurley, director of the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. “That's a great contribution if you can help keep even one cat or kitten out of the shelter so that they can have room for one that has absolutely no other choice.”

L.A.’s ‘community cats’

There are, according to LA Animal Services, about 960,000 “community cats” living throughout the city. These are free-roaming, stray cats that are often described as “feral” or “unsocialized."

(“Community cats” has become the preferred terminology among many animal welfare organizations because some of these cats can be more socialized than others.)

These free-roaming cats are a part of life in any city, but it's easy for populations to get out of control if not managed. Cats reproduce quickly. A female cat can have three litters per year, with the average litter being about four kittens. And cats as young as four months old can get pregnant.

That’s where TNR comes in.

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#298: Did you know that we are in the middle of kitten season? It's a super busy time for shelter workers, cat rescues, and the many Angelenos who volunteer their time to help save cats.

Today we're talking about those folks and what’s being done in L.A. and OC to try to improve the lives of free-roaming cats in Southern California.

Guests: Marisol Ramos, Boyle Heights Cats; Dr. Kate Hurley, Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis; Meredith Kirby, OC Community Cats

Why 'kitten season’ is such a tough time for LA’s cat crusaders

#298: Did you know that we are in the middle of kitten season? It's a super busy time for shelter workers, cat rescues, and the many Angelenos who volunteer their time to help save cats.

Today we're talking about those folks and what’s being done in L.A. and OC to try to improve the lives of free-roaming cats in Southern California.

Guests: Marisol Ramos, Boyle Heights Cats; Dr. Kate Hurley, Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis; Meredith Kirby, OC Community Cats

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What is TNR?

UC Davis’ Kate Hurley is also a leading authority on “trap, neuter and return” (or TNR) — a practice that is designed to reduce the number of cats on the street over time, help them live healthier lives and be less of a nuisance to their human neighbors.

The process involves cats being trapped (in rectangular wire cages that shut behind the cat when they enter) and taken to a shelter or clinic to be spayed/neutered and vaccinated for infectious diseases. During the process, one of the cats’ ears is “tipped” so they are identifiable as having been fixed after they are returned to their outdoor homes.

The result, Hurley says, are cats that are less likely to fight, spray and roam. It’s also considered a more practical and humane option than trapping and euthanizing cats, but it does have its critics.

Some cities and counties support TNR efforts — by providing traps and spay/neuter appointments or vouchers to cover part of the cost — and some don’t.

The city of L.A. was prohibited from supporting TNR for many years but in 2020 the city council signed off on the “Citywide Cat Program” to help stabilize the population by allowing TNR. It’s been in place since 2022.

Still, even in the places where there is government support, the amount of work that volunteers take on to save cats and do TNR can be daunting.

The cat crusaders

Christopher Askew (L) and Marisol Ramos (R) outside a L.A. business where workers have been feeding about a dozen community cats.

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Monica Bushman / LAist

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On a warm Thursday afternoon in April, around the start of this year’s kitten season, Marisol Ramos of “Boyle Heights Cats” (“Boyle Heights Gatos” on Instagram) was already fielding many more requests for help than she could handle.

“Today I got like seven [requests] in the last three hours from people saying, ‘Help, I need to get this cat fixed.’ And it's just adding up. I have about 600 cats on a list that need to get fixed.”

Ramos’s focus is mainly Boyle Heights, where she lives, and surrounding neighborhoods. She started doing TNR in L.A. in 2021, and has since helped get more than 1,000 cats spayed or neutered.

What’s involved is a lot of communication with cat feeders and potential fosters, early mornings and late nights setting out traps and waiting for them to work, time spent fundraising for supplies and food, and the effort it takes to find spay/neuter appointments and vets that will accept vouchers the city of L.A. offers through the Citywide Cat Program. Then, when cats have been fixed, she’s back 24-48 hours later to pick them up.

Ramos does all this in addition to her day job as a researcher and grant administrator. At first she took on a second job to pay for her TNR work, but has since formed a 501(c)(3) and received a small grant.

She started doing TNR with her family in New York when she was 15 years old.

“We learned about TNR,” Ramos says, “did a community training and certification, and then we would take the subway to the city to get them fixed.”

The ‘front lines’

Now Ramos trains other people to do TNR work. Christopher Askew is one of them. He worked at a cat rescue/sanctuary and while he found that work fulfilling, he says, “it was kind of like being at an Army hospital, way back behind the enemy lines or something … [Doing TNR] is more like being right out in the front lines on the street where there's not enough being done for street cats.”

He lives in downtown L.A. and plans to do trapping there: “Downtown seems like it needs a lot of help and there's not really many people covering it. So hopefully I can maybe help fill that gap.”

Askew joined Ramos out on a call out to a business near railroad tracks, where workers were feeding about a dozen cats, to learn about what it takes to do TNR.

Marisol Ramos with Boyle Heights Cats takes a photo of some community cats she'd been called out to TNR.

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Monica Bushman / LAist

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Ramos had been able to secure three spay/neuter appointments for the next day, so she was there with three traps and wet food to lure the cats in. She’d be back on Saturday to hopefully trap seven more that she’d take to appointments at a spay/neuter clinic on Sunday.

She also spends time finding adopters for kittens and other cats that can’t be returned to where they came from — if, for example, they’re sick and by the time they recover they’ve been away from the streets for too long.

But for all the work involved in doing TNR in L.A., Ramos said the situation in Orange County is much harder.

TNR is designed to reduce the number of cats on the street over time, help them live healthier lives and be less of a nuisance to their human neighbors.

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Monica Bushman / LAist

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In Orange County there isn’t a large animal welfare organization doing TNR or providing low-cost vouchers. The county-run shelter doesn’t provide vouchers either, and stopped its TNR program in 2020.

In June of 2023, a Grand Jury report called on Orange County to reinstate its TNR program, saying that ending the program “increased the rate of euthanasia of cats, especially kittens.”

In a response to LAist, OC Animal Care said they’ve “been advised by counsel that the release of unowned cats into the community is prohibited by law. Since not all municipalities share this same understanding, we continue to monitor litigation processes happening around the state for rulings that may impact the penal code.”

OC Animal Care also faced a threat of legal action over their TNR program by detractors of trap-neuter-return and, more recently, was sued by supporters of TNR, who want the program reinstated. In reference to the litigation, OC Animal Care told LAist: “It is widely acknowledged that TNR plays an important role in animal welfare, and we, like the local community, look forward to clear direction on this issue, whether it be through resolution of the pending litigation or a legislative fix at the state level.”

On the question of whether TNR violates of the section of the California penal code that prohibits animal abandonment, the city of L.A.’s position is that “abandonment laws, defined by intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence leaving an animal behind, do not apply to community cat practices.”

“I've met a lot of folks from Orange County who drive up to Sun Valley to fix the cats because they just couldn't find appointments in Orange County, or help there,” Ramos says. “Or they drive to San Diego, but they try to trap a lot so it's worth their time.”

The cats of Orange County

Meredith Kirby, the volunteer coordinator for OC Community Cats, says, “When we had the shelter as a resource, that was great, because it didn't cost anything.”

Kirby has been with the nonprofit organization since it was founded in 2015. They feed and care for about 25 community cat colonies in North Orange County, which includes doing TNR and providing medical care.

In addition to the volunteer work Kirby does, she also works as a high school ceramics teacher.

In the almost 10 years she’s been with OC Community Cats, Kirby says the situation has gotten much more difficult — largely because the county shelter ended its TNR program, but also because of the shuttering of some low-cost veterinary clinics they used to rely on. There’s also a shortage of veterinarians that has grown worse.

As a result, Kirby says they’re forced to rely on donations and have to find workarounds to get cats fixed outside Orange County.

“Our transport team is a lot of retired people,” mostly women, Kirby says, who “can take 10 to 15 cats up to L.A. in the morning and go pick them up.”

But the shortage of vets is a problem in L.A. too, and across the country.

Not enough vets and vet techs

A kitten named Blizzard, up for adoption at Pasadena Humane on June 24, 2024.

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Monica Bushman

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Hurley with the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis says the shortage of veterinarians didn’t start with the pandemic, but COVID did exacerbate it.

“The fewer vets there are, the harder it is, the more burnout there is, the more vets leave,” Hurley says. “And we're really in a negative cycle, it feels like right now, where the few vets that are standing are really stretched thin.”

That in turn has had an impact on spay/neuter rates.

“Spay/neuter in general took a huge hit during the early days of COVID,” Hurley says. “And it not only hasn't caught up, it hasn't even recovered to the baseline level that it was operating at before COVID in most places, in my experience.”

Chris Ramon, who heads up the Community Cats Program at Pasadena Humane, says another issue is a shortage of veterinary technicians and registered veterinary technicians (or RVTs).

“I have seen some of the most talented surgeons who can do a cat neuter in probably 20 seconds, no exaggeration,” Ramon says. But without a support team of technicians to help with surgery prep, anesthetization and recovery, “that veterinarian who can do a 20 second neuter is now investing 10 or 12 minutes into one case.”

The longer an appointment takes, that means fewer cats overall who can be fixed.

What can you do to help?

Even with the shortage of vets, technicians and the lack of support for TNR in some cities and counties, those who work to care for cats on Southern California streets say there are things you can do to help if you would like to get involved.

For one thing, Ramon says people often overestimate the amount of space that’s needed to foster cats and kittens. Even a bathroom, when you think about it, he says, “is a penthouse compared to a kennel at a shelter.”

There’s also lots of opportunities to volunteer or donate if fostering (or adopting) isn’t something you think will work for you.

Meredith Kirby with OC Community Cats says her number one request to those who’d like to help cats in their community is “be somebody who does something.”

“If you see an animal in need, help it. Don't go on Facebook or Instagram and go, ‘Oh, I saw this cat … Somebody go save it.’ You're somebody,” Kirby says. “If you don't know what to do, reach out to some of the local nonprofits and ask for guidance.”

Editor's note: This post has been updated to add information about the nature of the lawsuits that have been brought against OC Animal Care.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Inglewood plans to break ground next month on a $287.5 million network of stadium shuttle buses that are slated to roll out in April 2028, linking the city’s stadiums to the Metro system just in time for the Olympics.

City officials hope the Inglewood Transit Connector —  a pared-down version of the nearly $2 billion automated rail line that was first proposed in 2018 —  will ease traffic pressure on locals and boost foot traffic for businesses in the city’s historic core.

Verona Burks, one of the owners of Little Belize Restaurant on Nutwood Street, thanked the city for working to improve the Market Street area. 

“It has been a pleasure being there, watching it grow,” Burks said during the City Council meeting last week.

The shuttle network is designed to ferry visitors between the stadium and Metro K Line and C Line stations at the north and south ends of the city.

Four transit hubs will anchor the network with parking for cars and bikes along with drop-off points for rideshares. The four hubs include three on Market Street and one at Hawthorne Boulevard and 111th Street.

The Inglewood Transit Connector will link the Metro K and C Lines to Inglewood’s stadium district.

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Courtesy Inglewood Transit Connector

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The largest hub will cover nearly a full city block at the corner of Market Street and Florence Avenue. The intersection is currently home to a shopping center that the city is taking over and demolishing through eminent domain. Some business owners in the shopping center told The LA Local they weren’t ready to move.

Locals will see the largest changes along that Market Street corridor, where the city is also putting money into refreshing sidewalks, landscaping and storefronts. 

Here’s what to expect from the project, according to the city.

• Market Street and Florence Avenue hub: A pedestrian bridge across Florence Avenue will link the K Line’s Downtown Inglewood Metro Station to this transit hub, which will have a five-level parking structure with about 1,000 spaces and seven retail spaces between 90 and 270 square feet each. 
• Market Street and Manchester Boulevard hub: This hub will get a new 38-space parking lot and serve for rideshare drop-off or other transportation functions. 
• South Market Street and Hillcrest Boulevard hub: This hub will be focused on pedicab and bicycle services, and will have a reconfigured parking lot, refreshed lighting and landscaping. 
• Manchester Boulevard sidewalks: Wider sidewalks along Manchester will connect Market Street with Prairie Avenue, the stretch of road that gets heavy pedestrian traffic on event days. 
• Market Street and Queen Street streetscape: The corner of Market and Queen streets will get new sidewalks, seating, bike racks, landscaping and a shaded plaza.

The shuttle project layout leaves room for the city to revive its plan for a rail line in the future, if funding and needs align. 

The largest hub of the Inglewood Transit Connector will be on the corner of Market Street and Florence Avenue in place of the current shopping center. The shuttle network will link the Metro K and C Lines to Inglewood’s stadium district.

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Courtesy Inglewood Transit Connector

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At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor James Butts said the transit network is the single largest project the city has undertaken itself.

“We’re building for opening day in 2028 and for every ordinary day after that,” Butts said. “We’ll have a new front door to Inglewood.” 

All of the project’s budget is covered by a batch of state and local grants, according to the city.

The Los Angeles Unified Board is reevaluating how students, educators and schools use artificial intelligence as some parents call for an in-classroom moratorium. A new board committee on AI use meets for the first time Wednesday.

“I think that success will look like, in a quickly changing world, knowing that we are being proactive to protect our students and safeguard their health, their wellbeing, and their development first and foremost,” said Kelly Gonez, the committee chair. “But also ensuring that we are truly preparing our students for the world that they will emerge into once they graduate from our schools.”

Gonez said the goal is to create AI policy recommendations that could then be voted on by the full board next year.

What’s AI use like in schools?

Recent surveys indicate that many students and educators are using AI, even as research about whether the tools help students learn are mixed.

LAUSD students 13 and older can use AI tools at their teacher’s direction and after they complete a lesson about “digital citizenship,” under current district policy.

The board voted to create the generative AI committee when it adopted student screentime restrictions in June. In addition to Gonez, the committee includes board members Nick Melvoin and Tanya Ortiz Franklin.

A group of LAUSD parents who advocated for those restrictions wants the district to block all student AI use until more research is done.

“I think the current policy needs to be discarded completely, and we need to start from scratch with the foundational question of what is the benefit of these tools in education?” said Anya Meksin, deputy director of Schools Beyond Screens and the parent of a district elementary school student.

How to weigh in in LAUSD's AI policies

The first LAUSD board generative AI committee meeting is 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Sept.2, where district leaders are scheduled to give a presentation about AI in education.

Community members can tune in to the meeting online, over the phone or in person at board room at 333 S. Beaudry Ave.. Registration for public comment starts at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Meetings are also scheduled for the following Wednesdays at 10 a.m.:

• Oct. 21, 2026
• Dec. 9, 2026
• Jan. 20, 2027
• March 3, 2027
• April 7, 2027

Angelenos have escaped to Santa Barbara for generations. While neighboring Santa Ynez Valley captured the culinary spotlight in recent years, the coastal strip is striking back.

Fueled in part by a surge in commercial and real estate investments, and bolstered by the expansion of the California Michelin Guide, Santa Barbara and neighboring Montecito are experiencing a hospitality boom. (The region received a similar jolt more than two decades ago when the film Sideways spurred interest in Santa Barbara County’s wines and restaurants.)

The Basque restaurant has been open for just a year, but is regularly packed.

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Cathy Chaplin

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LAist

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With a string of buzzy new openings this past year — like Little Mountain and Monte’s in Montecito and Dom’s Taverna in downtown Santa Barbara — and more high-profile debuts on the horizon, including the return of legendary chef Thomas Keller to Southern California at the Coral Casino, the current momentum shows no signs of abating.

Underpinning this expansion are Santa Barbara’s long-standing institutions delivering genuine hospitality, alongside the region’s unrivaled bounty: pristine seafood, unmatched seasonal produce and world-class wines. This combination of heritage and innovation has transformed the American Riviera into a bona fide gastronomic destination.

While experiencing every notable establishment would easily require more than 48 hours, this ambitious itinerary covers significant ground. It purposely bypasses some well-trodden staples already in heavy rotation among Angelenos — such as Loquita, Bettina, Caruso’s, Cold Spring Tavern, La Super-Rica Taqueria and the like — to focus on lesser-known gems and standout newcomers.

Here is how to spend a gloriously food-centric weekend eating and drinking your way through Santa Barbara.

Friday

Happy Hour:

Arrive between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. to snag $2 off all drinks and food.

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Cathy Chaplin

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LAist

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Set your out-of-office message by midday Friday and escape north via the 101 or aboard Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner. Well-made drinks upon arrival are non-negotiable, and the veteran bartenders at The Pickle Room deliver exactly that.

Arrive between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. to snag $2 off all drinks and food. Order a signature Pickletini or classic Old Fashioned, pair it with a fried-to-order Reuben egg roll and settle into a space steeped in history.

The venue was once Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens, Santa Barbara’s last Chinese-owned business in its New Chinatown. When the Chung family closed the beloved restaurant in 2006, after 59 years, the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation stepped in to buy the property. Today, Clay Lovejoy operates both the adjoining Three Pickles sandwich shop and the bar.

For a slice of local Chinese American history, peruse the life-size photo exhibit dedicated to the founding Chung family along the bar’s back wall.

Kick off the weekend with The Pickle Room's signature Pickletini or classic Old Fashioned.

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Cathy Chaplin

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LAist

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Dinner:

The energy inside Dom’s Taverna is electric. Though open for just a year, the Arts District dining room is already packed with local couples, friends, and families.

Most people are here for Chef Dominique Crisp’s Central Coast spin on Basque cooking.

“It's intrinsically Basque to take whatever amazing ingredients are available, make them part of your menu, not really fuss it up,” Crisp said.

Herbaceous smashed papas brava at Dom's Taverna.

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Cathy Chaplin

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LAist

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Backed by strong ties to regional purveyors like 805 Seafood and La Pluma Farms, the menu changes almost daily. On a recent night, locally caught bluefin starred in both a crudo and pasta special, while the day’s oysters hailed from Morro Bay.

The menu is anchored by mainstays like wonderfully herbaceous smashed papas brava and arroza al forno made with morcilla from La Española Meats in Los Angeles’s South Bay. To drink, owner Raj Nallapothola’s Laie vermouth, served simply on the rocks with an orange slice and a green olive, cuts beautifully through the rich menu.

For the finale, a spoonful of whipped housemade Basque cheesecake topped with Osetra caviar delivers a perfect, decadent balance of sweet and savory.

Saturday

Coffee:

The third-wave coffee scene in Santa Barbara and its surrounding communities is exceptionally stacked, anchored by trailblazing stalwarts like Dune Coffee and Handlebar Roasters alongside hip newcomers like Little King.

Joining the lineup is Dawn, a breezy cafe attached to the State Street Drift hotel. With its central location and inviting indoor-outdoor seating, Dawn is a fetching option for classic espresso drinks, matcha, seasonal sippers — and prime people watching.

Breakfast:

Treat yourself with French Bordier butter at Oat Bakery.

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Cathy Chaplin

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LAist

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Ease into the day at Oat Bakery, a serene Scandinavian-inspired shop located just off State Street, with additional locations in Goleta and Montecito. Inside the minimalist, jewel-box space, co-owners and spouses Louise Ulrich-Fontana and Lou Fontana showcase a tightly edited lineup of Danish breads and pastries baked with locally sourced grains and minimal added sugar.

The dense, satisfying hygge buns are laced with cinnamon and packed with dates and walnuts, while the flaky frøsnappers feature an almond marzipan filling under a crust of toasty sesame and poppy seeds.

For the ultimate morning fuel, order the Danish breakfast: a crusty sourdough bun sliced and slathered with French Bordier butter, layered with Gouda and brightened with apricot-jalapeño jam. Grab a loaf of the bakery’s signature sesame charcoal sourdough for the perfect edible souvenir.

Lunch:

This family-owned restaurant draws crowds with its hyper-local catch, including box crab, sea urchin, and rock crab.

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Cathy Chaplin

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LAist

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Stearns Wharf is packed with touristy attractions, but the 46-year-old Santa Barbara Shellfish Co. is a refreshing exception. Perched on the West Coast’s oldest working wooden pier, this family-owned restaurant draws crowds with its hyper-local catch, including box crab, sea urchin and rock crab.

Order the uni, and it comes plated alongside its outer shell, spines still subtly moving. Delicately steamed crabs arrive with drawn butter and hefty metal crackers for extracting their meat.

Whether seated on the L-shaped patio with expansive views of the Pacific or along the dining room bar overlooking the busy open kitchen, there are no bad seats at this bustling pier-side eatery.

Cocktail Hour:

While staying overnight at Montecito’s storied San Ysidro Ranch starts at $2,500, the idyllic property, originally a Spanish land grant, has several food and beverage venues open to the public. Stroll the meticulously maintained grounds with a spritz, martini, or margarita in hand by ordering from the Garden Walk drinks menu available at The Speakeasy and The Stonehouse restaurant; live music starts at 5 p.m. daily.

For a secluded, moodier affair, duck into the eclectically appointed cocktail bar The Speakeasy — cool stone walls, low wooden ceilings, plush red booths and bold animal prints — for rare spirits and expertly made drinks.

Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are encouraged on Fridays and Saturdays.

Dinner:

Little Mountain, a nine-month-old hotspot in Montecito’s Upper Village.

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Cathy Chaplin

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LAist

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Chef Diego Moya may be new to the Central Coast, but he has quickly mastered the region's micro-seasons. At Little Mountain — a nine-month-old hotspot in Montecito’s Upper Village — the Chilean American chef dazzles diners nightly with a skillful, less-is-more restraint centered around a wood-fired kitchen.

Moya trained globally at famed institutions like Paris’ L’Arpège and Bangkok’s Nahm, and most recently served as executive chef at Racines in New York.

On a recent visit to Little Mountain, freshly caught local lingcod was transformed into an irresistible ceviche with burnt tomato and basil. A gorgeous flank of ruby-red tuna came lightly brushed with guajillo, and paired with ripe honeydew and a fermented pepper-and-melon gazpacho. Even simple koshihikari rice, fortified with housemade butter and white sesame seeds, becomes a main event under the chef’s care.

Beverages — including wines, cocktails and spirit-free selections — mirror Moya’s culinary ethos, focusing on small-scale, sustainable and low-intervention producers.

Little Mountain is an important opening not just for Montecito, but for all of Southern California.

Sunday

Brunch:

Bistro Amasa is tucked into the ground floor of the 155-year-old Upham Hotel — the oldest continuously operating hotel in Southern California.

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Erin Feinblatt

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Courtesy Bistro Amasa

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Tucked into the ground floor of the 155-year-old Upham Hotel — the oldest continuously operating hotel in Southern California — Bistro Amasa is just the place for Sunday brunch.

Executive chef Julian Martinez and restaurateur Jesse Gaddy, the hospitality pros behind local favorite Barbareño, opened the restaurant late last year, bringing chill yet refined vibes to the historic Victorian property.

Grab a seat on the wraparound patio overlooking a quieter stretch of downtown and settle in for brunch classics done right. The shakshuka with vadouvan-spiced tomato ragu, over-easy eggs, and sautéed kale offers pure comfort; the grilled pan de cristal served alongside is ideal for sopping.

For something sweet, a small stack of pancakes made with house ricotta is served with butter and preserved lemon syrup. A slate of whimsical cocktails is on hand for the boozy brunch crowd, including a requisite espresso martini and a summery strawberry shrub highball spiked with vodka.

When it first opened in 2015, Blue Butterfly Village was hailed as a rare sanctuary for women veterans overcoming homelessness.

But some tenants now say conditions at the taxpayer-subsidized San Pedro townhome complex have become so bad, they’re willing to give up their rental subsidies and take their chances on finding a home they can afford on their own limited incomes.

“I’d rather be freaking homeless than continue to live [at Blue Butterfly],” said Jade Easley, who served in the U.S. Army for nearly a decade.

She said that in 2024, the city’s Housing Department inspected her unit and found violations, such as faulty smoke detectors, defective stairs and bad plumbing. She said she frequently heard mice crawling in her walls.

Easley said she told property managers last year that locks on one of her doors were broken. The next month, she suffered a break-in. Seven months later, she said, the door still hadn’t been fixed, so she paid out of pocket to repair it herself.

Easley left Blue Butterfly earlier this year. She now lives with her two children in Tucson, Arizona. She said she moved there because rent is cheap enough to cover with her VA disability benefits. But she is now cut off from her social support system.

“This was not a choice to live here," Easley said. “I’ve lived outside before. I’ve lived deployed. But I never experienced mice in my home for that long of a period of time, clawing at my walls as I'm trying to sleep, and my kids running to my room saying something’s trying to get them.”

What happens after veterans get housed?

Easley is one of 12 current and former tenants who filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court last week against Blue Butterfly’s nonprofit landlord, Volunteers of America.

The tenants allege the organization and its affiliated groups have neglected the property, have failed to provide safe and habitable housing and have harassed residents who complained about worsening conditions.

According to the lawsuit, the property — which is nestled in a hillside down a winding private street lined with other abandoned military housing structures — has become infested with snakes, insects and other wildlife. Coyotes have crawled under poorly maintained fences, tenants say, and black widow spiders have taken over their patios.

Other alleged problems at the property include broken street lamps, sewage overflowing from defective septic systems, trash piling up as collections stopped and lax security that allowed one unit to operate as a “drug den” for years.

“It really has been stressful,” said Alisa Randell, a Public Counsel attorney representing the tenants. “There have been impacts on folks' mental health because of all of these issues not being able to get their homes fixed and not feeling safe and secure at this property.”

Raytevia Evans, a Volunteers of America spokesperson, declined an interview. She emailed a statement, saying the organization could not comment on active litigation.

“We regularly inspect our properties, including Blue Butterfly Village, and respond promptly to maintenance and safety requests from our residents,” the statement read. “We remain deeply committed to ensuring Blue Butterfly Village serves as a supportive environment for female veterans and their families, and we continue to collaborate with municipal partners and property management to address any outstanding maintenance or operational needs.”

Blue Butterfly Village is located down a winding private road. Residents must drive past derelict former military housing in order to reach their homes.

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David Wagner/LAist News

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The allegations come at a time when L.A. has been making progress on bringing unhoused veterans indoors. According to this year’s regional homeless count, about 2,250 veterans currently experience homelessness across L.A. County on any given night. That represents a decrease of about 42% from levels of veteran homelessness seen in 2020.

But veteran advocates said some of that decrease is the result of placing people in substandard housing where habitability concerns go unaddressed.

Rob Reynolds told LAist the Blue Butterfly allegations are similar to complaints he has heard from veterans placed in new housing on the VA campus in West L.A. He said those complaints also involve alleged lack of security, frequent staff turnover, pests and broken plumbing.

“I hope the plaintiffs in this case are successful in holding the defendants accountable, and I hope this leads to greater oversight and accountability for the property management groups operating veteran housing in Los Angeles,” Reynolds said. “They deserve better.”

Units received public funding, then failed city inspections

Easley said she spent about one year couch surfing and living in her car before moving into her unit at Blue Butterfly. At first, she said, her new home was “rainbows and sunshine,” describing it as a life-changing opportunity that gave her a reason to keep living.

But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Easley said, the property managers changed and problems in her townhome were left to fester. At the time, she was running a licensed, in-home daycare.

“I was actually pretty proud of myself because I finally was owning my own business,” Easley said. But she said neglect by the landlords left her home too unsafe to operate the daycare.

“I didn't want to be in my own unit,” she said. “I didn't want other people to be in my unit, so I just stopped that completely.”

A car with a popped hood is parked in a driveway outside of a townhome at Blue Butterfly Village in San Pedro.

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David Wagner/LAist News

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Disputes between landlords and tenants over habitability are fairly common in L.A. But the situation at Blue Butterfly is notable for how much taxpayer funding has flowed into the property.

The property consists of 74 two-bedroom townhomes. They were repurposed from existing structures that previously provided housing to military families stationed at a nearby Navy base. That housing was closed in 1997. The complex was redeveloped in part with about $12 million in state and local funding, loans, waived development fees and donated land.

Tenants living at Blue Butterfly typically pay up to 30% of their income on rent, with government-funded housing vouchers covering the rest. Some vouchers are administered through the HUD-VASH program, specifically targeted to housing veterans, while others are funded through mainstream Section 8 vouchers.

When landlords fail to fix deteriorating conditions, the local governments that administer these vouchers can place housing units under “abatement,” meaning rental subsidies will be withheld until homes pass future inspections.

LAist discovered through a public records request that the Housing Authority of the City of L.A. has placed at least three units at Blue Butterfly Village under abatement in recent years.

In 2024, Housing Authority officials told a Volunteers of America subsidiary they would not provide rental subsidies until the landlord fixed a faulty toilet, a broken bedroom door handle, a damaged refrigerator and dishwasher, non-functioning smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and cleared a mouse infestation.

‘It makes you feel like nobody cares’

Anesha Aird, a U.S. Navy veteran, spent about two years without stable housing after retiring from the military. She said she was usually able to pay for short-term hotel stays, but she spent some nights in her car.

Like Easley, Aird said her early days at Blue Butterfly were positive. But over time, her requests for maintenance and increased security on the property were ignored, she said.

At first, “we had proper security that stopped you at the gate, asked you where you were going, checked your name against a ban list to ensure that you were allowed to be on the property,” Aird said. “All of that is gone.”

Anesha Aird stands in front of her townhome at Blue Butterfly Village in San Pedro.

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David Wagner/LAist News

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When the attached townhome next to hers burned down in February 2024, the unit was left as a burned-out husk for about nine months, Aird said.

Before the repairs began, Aird said, she asked management to relocate her. She said she worried the construction noise and irregular work hours would disrupt her son’s home-schooling and trigger her post-traumatic stress disorder.

She said management denied her request.

“There are veterans here — veterans like myself with extreme PTSD and bad anxiety and depression,” Aird said. “It makes you feel like nobody cares.”

Tenants say they faced retaliation after asking for repairs

The tenants’ lawsuit alleges that Volunteers of America and other defendants violated the city of L.A.’s tenant anti-harassment ordinance by threatening to remove tenants and blaming them for conditions that landlords are responsible for maintaining.

Randell, the tenants’ attorney, said the lawsuit asks the court to require the landlords carry out repairs, restore services, end alleged retaliation and pay damages to compensate tenants for alleged overpaid rent and emotional distress.

“This site has a lot of promise,” Randell said. “We just want to see it live up to its promise.”

A spokesperson for the L.A. Housing Department said it currently had no records of open complaints or violations at the property. Officials with the Housing Authority of the City of L.A. did not respond to LAist’s request for information on current conditions at the complex.

Aird said she recently came home to find a three-day notice warning of a potential eviction on her door. She said she did not believe the threat would hold up in court. In any case, she plans to move out once she can find another building where she can use a housing voucher.

“I served this country honorably for 20 years,” Aird said. “All I'm asking is that I get treated with that same respect.”