Arson, assault, harassment and vandalism: as the rising cost of housing funnels more Los Angeles residents out of their homes and onto the streets, homeless people and their advocates are reporting an alarming rise in vigilante attacks against the unhoused.

In late August, a fast-moving fire in the hip, residential neighborhood of Eagle Rock briefly dominated headlines when it temporarily closed down two freeways and triggered a small-scale evacuation. In the week that followed, authorities revealed the fire had started in a homeless encampment, and was set by two men, one the son of the local chamber of commerce president. No one was injured, but prosecutors are reportedly considering charges of attempted murder.

By the time of the Eagle Rock fire, advocates for the homeless say they had already clocked a steady rise in vigilantism.

Statistics have long shown that the homeless are more likely than the housed to be the victims of a variety of crimes. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) doesn’t keep specific records of vigilante attacks against the homeless. But in interviews with close to a dozen people who live on the streets and in their cars, all said there had been a noticeable increase in attacks and harassment from people who target them for being homeless over the past year.

Many of those attacks have occurred in the San Fernando Valley, a sprawling network of suburbs with a growing homeless population.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Homeless camps line a street in downtown Los Angeles. Photograph: Richard Vogel/Associated Press

‘I try not to sleep’

Chris was attacked on the streets of North Hollywood, about three months ago. It was about 8.30 am, he said, and he and an elderly friend were both asleep.

“We both were attacked, and were both cursed at, and being instructed to get the F out of here, get the F on,” Chris, who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of reprisal, recalled. “I had a television thrown at my head while I was sleeping. My ear was bleeding. Thank god it didn’t hit my face. And they threw a full trash can at [the] elderly woman, who I affectionately call Mom.”

Chris doesn’t know the identity of his attackers. He’s had a hard time sleeping since the incident.

“I do have night terrors now,” he said. “Unfortunately, I try not to sleep. And it sucks, because you can’t dream if you don’t sleep, and I’m a dreamer.”

Another woman, who asked to be identified only by the initials SK, said that she’d been hit twice by the same car in two months while she was biking near the encampment where she lives in the west San Fernando Valley. It was a hit-and-run both times, she said, and she feels confident it was deliberate.

Not all vigilantism takes the form of violent attacks. People report being threatened and yelled at, getting trash thrown at them, being beeped at in the middle of the night. There’s also vandalism – RV’s graffitied, tires slashed or punctured with nails – and persistent harassment.

Even some advocates report being harassed – including having their addresses posted online – as a result of their work with the homeless. Several activists did not want to speak on the record for this story because they were worried about attracting the ire of vigilantes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Los Angeles police officers guard a freeway ramp near a newly displaced homeless camp during Donald Trump’s recent visit. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press

Anti-homeless policy proposals

The rise in vigilantism comes alongside Los Angeles policy proposals that many advocates have called anti-homeless. A draft of a new municipal law that would severely restrict where people could legally sleep outside includes a clause that some have compared to a “stand your ground” law for housed people against the homeless. It bans “speaking to a person in manner that … is likely to cause a reasonable person to respond immediately with a violent reaction”.

And the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently voted to support challenging a federal court ruling that makes it unconstitutional to punish or arrest people for sleeping on the streets when there’s not enough housing or shelter beds available. That’s indisputably the case in Los Angeles, where there are close to 59,000 people homeless and only about 15,000 shelter beds available total, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

“I think the legislative process is a response to the daily calls that the city council receives from angry residents,” said Jane Nguyen, the co-founder of a volunteer homeless outreach and advocacy organization that serves the Koreatown community called Ktown for All. She and other homeless advocates often fill the public comment section of city council meetings with speeches condemning legislation, but Nguyen says she believes city council members are inundated with calls and letters supporting that same legislation.

“I think there’s a consistent drumbeat of people calling for these really harsh and punitive laws,” Nguyen said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Homeless people sleep in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. Photograph: Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Vigilante Facebook groups

Nguyen and others believe that the increased vigilantism may also be linked to the rise of social media groups that are openly hostile to people living on the streets and in vehicles. Two such Facebook groups, both based in the San Fernando Valley, recently attracted media attention when activists published screenshots of some members making explicit comments about wanting to harass and even attack the unhoused, as well as pictures and videos of specific homeless people. Local police officers didn’t make any of the comments in question, but they were active participants in the groups, and were ordered by the LAPD to leave after the comments were made public.

Steve Slutzah, a San Fernando Valley resident who attended a meeting at the local police station about the Facebook groups, said he didn’t approve of the violent comments. But he also said he didn’t believe the comments were genuine threats.

“It is a place for people, you might say, to blow off some steam, and also communicate and commiserate with each other to find out that we all are suffering from the same types of problems,” Slutzah said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A homeless encampment lies in the shadow of the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press

“Psychologically, this site kept a lot of people probably from doing things, because they knew the police were involved and were doing something to help them. Vigilantes become vigilantes because they feel there is no other way other than doing it themselves.”

But Tom Booth, a local homeless advocate and social worker, said he thinks the Facebook groups help spread misinformation, and fuel anger against the unhoused. He recognizes the LAPD is facing a difficult task, but thinks they, too, have contributed to misconceptions about the homelessness crisis.

“I feel like we’ve been unfair to the LAPD. We’ve made them the first responder and default responder to homelessness, and I don’t think they’re equipped to be the first responder,” Booth said.

“[LAPD officers are] repeating at neighborhood council meetings that people don’t want help. They’re carrying that back to the community, and they’re not seeing the full gamut [of homelessness]: kids aging out of foster care, college-age kids. They don’t see the whole picture. So they’re presenting their own narrative, and reinforcing constituents’ point of view, and it’s resonating within that echo chamber.”

Rita Dunn, a 39-year-old woman who lives on the street in the San Fernando Valley, said she thinks that divide is driven by fear.

“A lot of people are frustrated, a lot of people from the community are losing their own housing as we speak, as rents continue to skyrocket and we continue to do nothing about that. Then they’re afraid, and they think, ‘Oh my God, it’s because of us’,” she said.