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Podcasts Take Two
Homeless advocacy groups set up tent city at The Grove
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Jul 28, 2017
Listen • 4:38
Homeless advocacy groups set up tent city at The Grove
By 2020, homelessness will be so bad that tent encampments won't be contained to downtown; they could show up at some of major L.A. locations.
FILE - This Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 file photo shows tents from a homeless encampment line a street in downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles city and county officials have approved sweeping plans to deal with homelessness at a cost of billions over a decade. The City Council's strategic plan calls for providing more housing and funding programs designed to keep people off the streets in the first place. The city has around 25,000 homeless, more than half the total in LA County. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel,File)
FILE - This Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 file photo shows tents from a homeless encampment line a street in downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles city and county officials have approved sweeping plans to deal with homelessness at a cost of billions over a decade. The City Council's strategic plan calls for providing more housing and funding programs designed to keep people off the streets in the first place. The city has around 25,000 homeless, more than half the total in LA County. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel,File)
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Richard Vogel/AP
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By 2020, homelessness will be so bad that tent encampments won't be contained to downtown; they could show up at some of major L.A. locations.

Homeless advocacy groups are setting up a tent city at The Grove in West Los Angeles today. 

The groups, which include Monday Night Mission, Occupy Fights Foreclosures, LA on Cloud 9 and Progressives for California, are protesting rising rents in the city. They hope to convince LA officials to take action.

"When you go down to City Hall, you see tents and people are kind of immune to it. What we're doing with showing tents in front of The Grove is we want to show people the real statistic," said Mel Tillekeratne, head of Monday Night Mission.

Tillekeratne spoke with Take Two's A Martinez from The Grove before the protest began.

"This is how fast homelessness is growing and this is what Los Angeles will look like in 2020. It's not going to be limited to downtown; it's going to be all over L.A. and our beloved places like The Grove are going to have tent encampments in front of them unless Mayor Garcetti and the City Council take action right now."

To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.