Kim and Khloé Kardashian Bring Awareness To The Homeless Cr1sis in Los Angeles
Are you guys excited for ice cream? Awesome. excited? The ice cream museum is just super cool. It’s like something different to do in town. Yeah. Who wouldn’t want to swim in a bed of sprinkles? Like, come on. Kim, turn around and stand on the phone. So exciting. Oh, walk on the stars. Oh, scoop dog. Kim Kardashian.
You guys, I finally got a star. I even sniped her. So cute. Wait, it’s even better. Here you go, go. Cheers. Remember, guys, try not to dive or jump into the pool. Just carefully jump in. of sprinkles. Holy food god. Oh, there’s a diving board. How fun, guys. This is good. Food god toys. I’M CHOKING ON SPRINKLES.
LOOK AT A WHOLE STORE OF SEWING MACHINES. Mason loves to sew. He loves it. I’ll go. Mom, I want to sew. The h3ll does he sew? They make stuffed animals and they sell them on a website and it goes to like a charity. Remember when we used to come down here to do all the buying for Dash? I swear we like parked in one of these parking lots.
I used to have an apartment on 7th and Flower. The good old days. You’re allowed to just put a tent on the side of the road? There’s so many like If you look up all these streets, there’s tons of tents, like up all every street here. I’m seeing tents. I should have driven my kids by here when they were down here. Dad used to drive us down here? Yeah.
But we were just at that ice cream museum, like we should have driven by. With them. My dad used to drive us to Skid Row when we were little to just show us that the rest of the world doesn’t really live like how we live in Beverly Hills, and that always stuck with me. And then when I had kids, like everything kind of opens up, and you want our world to be the most perfect place for them, and your awareness just becomes so heightened.
Just so much has changed of things I was just oblivious to before. But it’s not enough to witness it. I really want to do something about it. It’s so sad. How’s your d1et been going? Good. You know, I had a few gluten free pretzels today, which threw me off cuz that’s carbs, but it’s fine. Gluten free, it’s like you’re eating air. Not really.
I feel like that’s going to be the like the trick is people think that. Mhm. After we went downtown, didn’t you feel like so bad? Like there was so many people. It’s definitely different than when like Dad used to take us. I think people are blind, and people kind of like to live in their bubble Yeah. and ignore what’s really going on.
I just want to work with what like some organization. I don’t know what which one or where to go, but I just feel like there’s something that we can do to help. For sure, I think you would definitely I mean, it’s easy to find an organization that would love to have your like help and bring awareness to it. I am just at a point in my life where I don’t want to be naive anymore and I just want to use my platform to get other people involved and I really do want to learn and figure out what we can all do to fix this problem.
Hi lad1es. Hi, how are you? I’m Andy. Nice to see you and Chloe. Nice to meet you. This is Kim. How are you? Hi, I’m Alexandra. Hi, I’m Chloe. I wanted to take you on a little tour if you have time. Yeah, we would love that. As I’ve been doing my research, I just feel like I have to start somewhere and this is the perfect place for me to get some more information and to figure out all of the questions that I really have as to what we can do to help.
I just hope that I can shine a light on this issue and that hopefully more people will come together and we can figure out a solution for this. Oh, wow. This is our beautiful rooftop with one of the best views of downtown LA. So, like all these people that are just roaming the streets, do they not want to come and stay here? There just aren’t enough shelter beds in LA.
So, 47,000 people are on the streets and there’s only 12,000 shelter beds to go to. This is the worst man made disaster in the United States. Over 2,000 people living on our sidewalks and you know, people say they want people to get off the streets, there’s nowhere to go. I can tell you recently what’s causing it to skyrocket is the cost of rent.
Rents have have up 30%, salaries have gone down 3%. It’s like a perfect storm Yeah. of homelessness especially in LA. This year we have 55% more people under our roof. And do you guys have the space for that? We’ve made space. We never turn away a woman because there’s 800 registered sex offenders on the street so our hearts won’t let us.
The homeless issue is a full epidemic and I don’t know what the answer is to get people off the streets but you know, I’m so willing to help in any way that I can. You cannot survive on the street without being brut4lized and devastated by the experience. I just want to bring awareness to this issue. Unfortunately, people do live in bubbles and people probably think like LA is this glamorous place and I mean it makes me feel really sad that people are just living like this and the problems just getting worse.
We really wanted to educate ourselves and just kind of hear stories and maybe like what we can do. I just didn’t have a job that paid you well enough to support us. Yeah. The things that I’ve seen down here just nasty things. There are so many circumstances that can lead to this situation for so many people.
This can happen to anyone. This is the floor that our families and children stay on. You can see everybody’s bags, clothing and everything. We want to make sure our women feel safe so we have separate floors for everybody. Hi, this is Chloe. This is Kim. Hi. This is Alex 20 years old. Hi Chloe. Nice to see you.
Alex is somebody that came through our men’s program and has been working here a little bit longer than me. Just want to sit down or get comfortable? Recently we drove by and we noticed how much it’s escalated the homelessness here and from when we were younger, there are and just we were like sh0cked by what it looked like.
And so for us, we really wanted to educate ourselves as to kind of why I think it’s like multiplied and if just kind of hear stories and maybe like what we can do. So Laquida, I wanted you to share cuz I think Laquida’s a great example of somebody who didn’t suffer from any of those issues that you usually typically ask like is this person addicted? Is there mental illness? She’s just a mom who needed a hand up.
Um, I just didn’t have a job that paid well enough for me to get my own place, you know, and to support us. Yeah. We all don’t come from abusive points of view or we’re running away from our husband or our boyfriends or we have dru9 or alcohol Sometimes you just needed just a place to take a breath and to move on. Thank you for sharing. Yeah.
The reason I’m here is because I don’t think I can afford to pay housing on my own for my one bedroom apartment. I go to my brother’s house and he likes to smoke dru9s. Mhm. And I can’t stand that. I don’t want to even be around. I don’t want to see it. I drove down here and I didn’t know this program here at the Union Mhm. was like it was.
It’s a good program if people do what this camp tells them to do. But if they don’t, that’s where they end up out there. The things that I’ve seen down here nasty things. Right. There are so many circumstances that can lead to, you know, this situation for so many people. And I think just having a place where they take in mothers and their children, that is so important because they are so vulnerable when they’re on the streets to rapists and pedophiles and dru9 trafficking. This can happen to anyone.
It’s just really sad to hear that, you know, so many people are just one paycheck away from being homeless. My name is Patrice. I became homeless probably in 2014 due to a financial hardship. Been doing it on my own, hit financial hardship, lost my income, and became homeless then.
Went to stay with friends and, you know, staying with friends don’t work out a lot, so ended up back on the street. Mhm. Okay. But that’s where I’m at now, but they gave me a voucher. I’m looking for a place now. And I’ve been here since Saturday. Since Saturday? Mhm. For most of society, it seems like there’s this net or web that kind of catches you when you fall.
I think for some, that net or web, there was there was never the father, there was never the mother, there was never aunts and uncles to help facilitate. And so they just kind of fell through the cracks, and now they’re so now they end up here that it’s just completely inundated. Thank you guys so much for sharing your stories with us. Thank you for coming.
Thank you. And thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you. It’s so cr4zy. I mean, just these people are such good people. You know, I do think like I don’t know, Dad always made us do things, so like I have never been scared of stuff like this. I mean, obviously to have awareness. Totally. I think it is important to teach your kids that stuff. Totally.
I think it’s so important. From this experience, I’ve learned that it’s just not that simple. The city needs to figure out housing, and it’s not going to be just one person. it has to be a bunch of people coming together to figure this out. Just think how many people don’t really have an option. Really was so sad. So sad.
It’s medication for Chloe’s lice. So she has this fungus. This is for your colon health. Courtney, she’s trying to do what I did at the restaurant. I want to know what is the city doing to help? No one should ever live like this in this country. Oh my god, I’ve never sat on this little chair. You haven’t? No. It’s cozy.
Um that was pretty intense. Yeah. Wait, I want to look up some stuff. That was really sad. So I just want to Google like other things on Skid Row cuz I feel like there’s just so many more like untold stories. I wonder how many shelters are downtown? Cuz when we were driving by that time we were naming shelters.
Thank you Mr. President. I have real concerns about this. Um when we talk about all of us sharing the burden of how and how we deal with the homeless issue we have paid the price of poor land use decisions for people who live in these sensitive areas and now we’re saying it’s okay to have people live in their vehicles in these very areas that we’re trying to protect people from.
It’s going to become a problem in the northeast San Fernando Valley particularly city seven and city six. I brought my father home from the hospital. There’s a lot that I think can be done in our community, and it starts with just getting the information. Councilwoman Nury Martinez, I just feel like she would give me some major insight on what I can do to help.
I mean, it seems like she really cares and really wants to change the situation. And I feel like that’s what, you know, is most important. What do you want to do? Ew. I don’t know. If I’m in town, I’ll go with you. But like, it’s cr4zy that there’s so much like in our neighborhood, so close to us. There’s so much going on.
It’s so sad. Yeah. Hi. How are you? I’m Kim. Nice to meet you. Sit down. Thank you for expressing interest on this issue that, you know, quite frankly, has gotten so much worse over the last, I would say, 5 to 10 years in Los Angeles. no idea. I mean, my sisters and I had gone downtown. It’s sh0cking to see It is sh0cking.
children. To me, it’s infuriating that we’re in, you know, the most powerful country in the world, and that we allow people to live this way. Yeah, that’s so intense. Councilwoman Nury Martinez has focused so much of her career on helping the homeless. What I want to know most is what is the city doing to help? Cuz that is what will ultimately cure this issue.
So, what we’re trying to do is not only address the housing needs, but also the issue of these large encampments, where you have, you know, more than 50, 100 people. But I want to show you a sort of a a glimpse of what my district looks like. So, this is what we call Cabrito Road, and it’s literally a tent community.
You have all kinds of elements. You have people who have, of course, have serious dru9 addiction problems that need treatment. You have people who need medication for their mental health issues, but you also have a criminal element here that nobody wants to talk about. Sometimes you have pimps hiding young kids, as young as 11 year olds being trafficked in our country every single day.
And and we do nothing Yeah, we do nothing to address this issue. It’s an epidemic. It’s hard to deal with it if you have all the resources in the world. Right. In the city of Los Angeles, we have to be very careful about how we clean these encampments up. Here’s an indication of what sort of we find when we’re there. Just the amount of stuff that they accumulate over the the months and Wow.
been out there. I mean, who can live this way? Yeah. No one should ever live like this in this country. I think the problem is just so much bigger than people really realize. You get like a glimpse of it, but when you drive like 20 minutes further, you see it’s like just like devastation of like people just all over the streets.
Like people just have to see this. Like I want to drive down here. I want to bring our cameras. I want to show people what it’s like just right down the street. Ready? Yeah. I’ll follow you. The homeless issue is now starting to become such a prevalent thing all over across the city. I can’t imagine that people are not watching these small encampments kind of creep up in their neighborhoods.
It’s basically spreading everywhere. I know that this is not something that I can fix by myself, but I hope that everything that I’m learning will hopefully wake something up inside of other people so that everyone can just come together and you know, if me speaking about it even brings awareness to one person, then that can help make a difference.
So, this is old San Fernando Road along the railroad tracks. This is probably one of our most difficult encampment to clean up. And look at the trash and the amount of debris and So, let’s say you get out and you want to talk to people. What would you say? Oh, I would just ask them if um anybody from the Hope team or from the city has approached them about finding a place to live.
We see too many people out and see that doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a safe situation. We can stay in the car. Sometimes they’re willing to talk to you, sometimes they’re not. I can handle it. I feel like we have a lot of people around us and if they got cr4zy, it’s You never know.
There’s Actually, it’s a little bit more dicey than not. I just don’t want to put you in a situation. Hola. Estoy en la calle. Oh, the whole point is to try to get people to accept the help, but if you’re not willing to accept the help, It’s so unsanitary, so not safe. It’s just so heartbreaking to see. I’ll just follow your lead. Look at this.
It looks like a third world country. But, this used to be a lot worse, Kim. This was all lined up with tents. We’ve come out here a couple of times and as you can tell, there’s still some folks out here. We’re not trying to arr.est anybody. We’re just simply trying to figure out what How did you get here? Are you willing to accept services? And then we’ll bring in the team to a.ssess it.
So, he’s here with his wife and he actually works around the corner at a granite crushing facility and he 2 years ago his company lost basically went bankrupt and he lost his job. He said he’s open to receiving services or help to try to get off the street. So, the Hope Team was out here a couple of a couple of months ago and so they did offer him services and he didn’t accept it about 4 months ago.
So, he doesn’t really have a real an answer as to why, but this is he chose to stay out here. The whole point is to try to get people to accept the help, but if you’re not willing to, it makes it harder. Yeah, for sure. Walking through the encampment and seeing the tents and just seeing that it’s like this whole community, it’s just, you know, so unsanitary, so not safe.
I don’t know, it’s just so it was like heartbreaking to see these living conditions. Thank you so much for taking the time to show it to me so I can like be really real. We’re going to dive into it and start meeting with people and see what we can do to help. Okay. Thank you so much. It was nice to meet you.
Same here. You get what I’m trying to say but it’s just too big of a house. No. You’re very persistent but no. What do you want? Eggies, a hot dog, and pizza? Yeah. So, when we went downtown the other day, there was like so many single moms. Yeah. It was so cr4zy. it was couples. Yeah. This one lady, when I was volunteering at that homeless shelter, she got injured at work and like the workers comp only covered so much that like she had to like she was in the hospital for so long after she had to put all of her money towards it.
And then, when she was out of the hospital, she just couldn’t pay her bills cuz she had no more money and she couldn’t work cuz she was disabled. And then so she had nowhere to go. She went to this like transitional housing. It’s like where I told you I was going to volunteer for Mother’s Day. And they like just give you a place to stay.
Where is it? Um It’s like on the east side like by my house. It’s off of Alexandria. I’ve heard of it actually. cool. Alexandria House? Yeah. The place is really cute. We have to go. You guys should come. Yeah. I’m sure they would be like so excited. Yeah. Oh, thank you. This is so cute. Hey Justine.
How are you? Thank you for doing this. Oh my gosh, thanks for having us. It’s like the Today I have an amazing party planned to support the Alexandria House, a long term shelter for women and single moms. We are partnering with companies like Prive and Cost Plus World Market to provide some great products and services.
And I just want to bring awareness to this issue cuz I feel like there’s a lot that can be done in our community and it starts with just getting the information. Hi. I’m Caroline. How are you? Nice to meet you. course. Of course. Hi. How are you? Nice to meet you. So glad that you’re here.
Can I get everyone’s attention just for a moment, please? Um we just want to thank you, Kim, for bringing your amazing crew to here for Alexandria House. Alexandria House has been here for 21 years. As you know, LA is the homeless capital of the United States. The rising population is women and children. Alexandria House, we’re just a drop in the bucket of what the good that we can do to eliminate homelessness.
We really appreciate you being here and casting some attention on this incredible issue that’s impacting so many. And what we like to offer to you is a gift of stories. We’d like to start with Madison. Most people don’t understand, you know, the homeless. They think that, oh, you had to be a bad kid, you have to have run away, you’re doing dru9s.
I was an athlete. Um and for wh@tever reason, my mom, she just couldn’t deal. She was on dru9s and she kicked me out the house at 17 and I found myself homeless. And I met so many in my journey at 17 in the shelter, I met so many kids who were like me. So, I just kind of wanted to highlight that part of my story cuz most people hear at Alexandria House, they know about the domestic violence that I did.
They know that when I came here at 20 years old with a 1 year old, you know, they they know about that part of my story. They don’t know what I went through before. So, I just wanted to Thank you so much for SHARING YOUR STORY. I’M GOING TO DO MY SIGNATURE PIECE. IT’S CALLED Skid Row Sister. It’s a piece that I wrote when I found myself on Skid Row.
There’s a place in LA that’s been titled obscure. It’s a place I’ve embraced as my gifts become sure. And in this space, I erase a lifetime of being demure. On the 17th of December in the year of 2000, at 10:00 a.m., I checked in to Skid Row Housing. Check all egos at the door cuz here humility comes.
My Skid Row family, in spite of their insanity, shows me undying support unlike those lames with my same last names that said your dreams you should abort. Not to harp on the past because my losses are vast. Before you stands one completely broken. I love you, miss, and I love you, mister. Sincerely yours, a Skid Row Sister.
YOUR TURN. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO understand that not everyone on the street is a dru9 addict. People that I’ve met are just are having hardships. Maybe they lost their job. Maybe they just had a bad circumstance. There’s so many different stories and I think that’s just the most important thing is to get people off Skid Row.
Alexandria House is really helping me with me with my life. So, I’m totally happy, but you know, I’m still homeless, but I’m trying so hard. And also when I I’m especially when I have my kids there, I cannot I cannot do what I want. We appreciate everything that you did to make this happen and also really count on you to spread the word on this issue of homelessness and we appreciate you doing that.
want to say thank you for having me and I know this is like a lot to share your stories and I think it’ll help so many people just put a different face on homelessness cuz I think that so many people just have such an idea of what that looks like and it’s really so different and so many people are just a paycheck away from being homeless.
So, I appreciate you guys for sharing your stories with us and you know, today I just wanted to pamper you guys. We have people inside that are going to talk to you about money management and things that I wish they taught in high school and in schools that they just never really teach you and women in there to help you write resumes for jobs.
It’s just a pampering day cuz you guys really all deserve it so much. There’s so many organizations, but the epidemic is just growing so much that you know, every organization just needs more resources. So, what we’re going to end up doing is move work experience to the top. This is our after school program and we have a daycare right in this building also on this floor and the bottom floor.
I mean, the problem is just so big that it’s not going to take, you know, just one person saying they want to make a difference. It’s going to take like the whole city and the country coming together to fix this huge issue. 1 2 3
