On March 17th, City Council District 14 plans to conduct a sweep and forcibly remove unhoused residents at Toriumi Plaza. After the sweep, the LA Department of Transportation intends to erect a fence around the plaza with no determined timeline for removal.
Nikkei Progressives is in solidarity with the houseless community in Little Tokyo. We fight injustice against all marginalized people and oppose:
the forced removal of unhoused folks;
City Council District 14’s plan to coerce all residents into entering Project Roomkey;
and the Department of Transportation’s intention to erect a fence around Toriumi Plaza.
Nikkei Progressives acknowledges that some business owners are concerned with the encampment at Toriumi Plaza and believe their businesses have taken a hit due to customers being unwilling to park at Aiso Parking Garage located under Toriumi Plaza. However, we believe the sweep and fence will not address business owners’ concerns; rather, it will mainly violate the rights of houseless individuals.
What is a sweep?
A sweep is a forced disbandment of an encampment and the removal of all houseless people and their belongings.
Why we oppose a sweep:
The sweeps we have observed in Los Angeles are inhumane and result not in housing and solutions, but violence and loss. Personal belongings are often destroyed and made inaccessible, violating the rights of houseless individuals and often leading to mental health trauma, physical suffering, and despair.
What is Project Roomkey?
According to their website, “Project Roomkey is a collaborative effort by the State, County and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to secure hotel and motel rooms for vulnerable people experiencing homelessness.” It was started during the COVID-19 pandemic to “provide a way for people who don’t have a home to stay inside.”
Why we oppose Project Roomkey:
Project Roomkey housing is only available for 90 days. People seeking permanent supportive housing often wait for months or even years due to limited supply. Where, then, are people supposed to live once the 90-day period is over? Individuals in Project Roomkey can only bring a small portion of their belongings, cannot bring pets, must adhere to a 10:00pm curfew and strict schedule and are constantly surveilled by security personnel. Furthermore, current Project Roomkey recipients are being kicked out to make room for the influx of Toriumi Plaza residents, meaning this strategy is creating a false net positive while further contributing to pushing people out on the street.
As of January 2020, there are over 41,000 people in Los Angeles experiencing houselessness, an increase of 14.2% from 2019, and Project Roomkey only has around 1,200 rooms available with the program projected to sunset later this year. Los Angeles’s housing crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic, will not be solved with band aid solutions like Project Roomkey.
What does it mean to erect a fence around Toriumi Plaza?
If this sweep follows the events of the sweep and displacement of unhoused folks in Echo Park, then a fence will be erected after the sweep and the area will be inaccessible to the public. We do not know how long the fence will remain.
Why we oppose a fence:
A fence will not solve the housing crisis or address the grievances of businesses, and it will only ensure that no one will be able to use the plaza. If customers are concerned with parking at Aiso Parking Garage because of the encampment (we are unsure how much of a concern this actually is), there will still be unhoused folks in Little Tokyo and a sweep and a fence will not provide housing for them.
OUR DEMANDS:
We call for City Council District 14 and Councilmember Kevin de León to cancel the scheduled sweep and construction of the fence.
The City must meet with Toriumi Plaza residents and bring in support services to provide comprehensive assistance and housing that meets their needs.
The City must provide permanent supportive housing solutions and support services for our unhoused neighbors.
Our call to action:
We call on the Japanese American community to stand in solidarity with our unhoused neighbors. As a historically marginalized community, we understand ourselves as part of an inclusive neighborhood that values all human life and dignity. We do not have the comprehensive solution to solve a housing crisis that is regional as much as it is statewide, but we know that violently displacing people during a sweep is not the answer. The onus is on our elected officials to solve the housing crisis, and we must hold them accountable while also standing in solidarity with marginalized people who are suffering. We urge you to join us in opposing the sweep at Toriumi Plaza by signing on to this letter now.
Nikkei Progressives’ mission is to organize towards progressive, liberatory, and transformational change both within the Japanese American and Nikkei community and in broader society through arts, education, advocacy, solidarity, and direct action. Nikkei Progressives is a grassroots, all-volunteer multigenerational community organization that works on issues of justice and fairness within the Japanese American community and beyond. We are descended from Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress (NCRR) and the Little Tokyo People’s Rights Organization (LTPRO). In the 1970s redevelopment period, LTPRO fought for Little Tokyo and the rights of its multiracial residents, small businesses, and cultural organizations, organizing to ensure that they would receive City support to stay in Little Tokyo. Opposing evictions and supporting housing for the unhoused is a continuation of that tradition.
Signed,
Kimi Maru, Nikkei Progressives
June Hibino, Nikkei Progressives
Donna Maeda
Jackson Liu
Génesis
Carol Zou
Mia Yamamoto
Kari Okubo
Ana Iwataki
Kathy Masaoka, NCRR/Nikkei Progressives
Mia Barnett, Nikkei Progressives
Kayla Yamada
Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda
Roger Oda, Nikkei Progressives
Jason Li
Miho Murai
Thomas Saito
Michael Yanagita
Nora Fujita-Yuhas
Masami Moriya
Andrew Stranahan
Kenniss Henry
Avalon Igawa, Nikkei Progressives
Jason
Erin Hitomi
Nick Nagatani
Traci Toshiyuki Imamura
Mya Worrell
Je-Show Yang
Henry Aoki, J-Town Action & Solidarity
KC Mukai
Taiji Miyagawa
Alyson Iwamoto
Bruce Embrey
Mark Nakagawa, Centenary United Methodist Church
Miyako Noguchi, Nikkei Progressives
Hunter Jones
Carrie Morita, Nikkei Progressives
Jessica Li
Scott Nagatani, former Little Tokyo Hotel resident
Abigail Bokun
Naomi Hirahara
Audrey Chan
Grace Barredo
Leslie Ito
Kate Maruyama, JACCC member
Edna Horiuchi, Nikkei Progressives
Anjali Gopinathan
Zen Sekizawa, J-Town Action & Solidarity
Ray Fernandez
Margaret Starbuck
Kristan Suko
Yuki Aizawa
Hal Pan
Robert Sato
Jeremiah Chua
Jason Tiangco, Visual Communications
David E Z Maldonado
Eseel Borlasa
Cindy Lin, Little Tokyo resident
Jeremy Cowie
Ruth Wakabayashi Kondo, Nikkei Progressives
Robyn Park
Jonathan Cowie
Toshio Meronek