A homeless man has sued the city of Los Angeles, claiming local police have posted his image and that of others on Facebook group pages that track illegal encampments of people living on the streets.

Rex Schellenberg, 81, who filed the suit Monday, said he was appalled when he learned that a cop had been sharing information about him and other homeless people on Facebook.

'Telling them who we were and what we were doing. Our personal problems,' said Schellenberg, 81, who has lived on the streets of the San Fernando Valley for years.

Rex Schellenberg, 81, filed a law suit Monday against the city of Los Angeles, claiming local police have posted his image and that of others on Facebook group pages that track illegal encampments of people living on the streets

'It's like putting a target on our back,' he told the Los Angeles Times.

The suit alleges that Schellenberg has been harassed by police because of the online posts, and that his van was towed.

A Los Angeles Police spokesman declined comment when DailyMail.com reached, because of a policy that restricts department members making statements about pending litigation.

Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feurer, said Schellenberg's complaint was under review, and declined to comment further.

Schellenberg's complaint comes as Los Angeles has been cracking down on illegal homeless encampments in Los Angeles, which has about 4 million residents and is the second largest city in the US by population, after New York, which has more than twice as many residents.

The suit alleges that Schellenberg has been harassed by police because of the online posts, and that his van was towed. He is pictured standing next to the vehicle in post made by a Facebook user complaining the vehicle had been parked in the spot for two weeks

A Facebook group user's comments about Schellenberg's van asks, 'who can I call about this?'

Schellenberg's lawsuit includes an online post from an officer updating group members about efforts moving an occupant of an encampment into housing, and mentions Schellenberg by name.

Authorities last week removed a large, three-story tree house which was built illegally in northwestern Los Angeles, as the city officials worked to clear a homeless encampment said to be inhabited by 100 people.

City sanitation workers dismantled the structure located on a 34-acre stretch of designated parkland in the Sepulveda Basin, which is that is said to be at high risk of flooding and brush fires.

The LA Homeless Services Authority was on hand during the removal to assist persons displaced by the effort.

Schellenberg's lawsuit, obtained by the DailyMail, notes that a 'point-in-time count' of sheltered and unsheltered homeless people in January 2019 found there were 36,000 individuals without a permanent place to go 'any given night.'

The suit also mentions that at least 16,000 'unhoused individuals live in their vehicles across Los Angeles County.'

The suit mentions an officer's attempts to have Schellenberg move his encampment from Warner Center Park in Woodland Hills in August 2018, but disputes that he was 'camping' at the site. A picture from the suite shows Schellenberg's belongings in the park that day

'Countless studies have shown that the affordable housing crises in Los Angeles is driving the increase in homelessness,' the lawsuit filed by attorney Carol A. Sobel, who is representing Schellenberg.

As the 'visibility' of homeless people has increased, groups have been formed on Facebook and the social media platform NextDoor, where people have aired their grievances over noticing more and more people living on the street.

Los Angeles cops also have joined the groups, some which gained notoriety for their 'anti-homeless rhetoric,' the suit claims. The groups include 'Crimebusters of West Hills and Woodland Hills', and 'Homeless Transient Encampments of our West Valley'.

'Acting in their official roles, LAPD Senior Lead Officers participate in these private Facebook groups, even as group administrators,' the lawsuit says.

The involvement of police drew another legal case, filed with the California Attorney General's Office in 2018.

An LAPD review later found the groups were having 'private parties posting demeaning comments about individuals experiencing homelessness,' according to the suit.

'The complaint to the AG included such comments by LAPD Senior Lead Officers, who disclosed private information, learned through their position as police officers, about unhoused individuals in their posts,' the suit explains.

'In many of these, LAPD Senior Lead Officers directed local residents to lodge formal complaints with the City so that the LAPD then could take action against unhoused individuals.'

Schellenberg is charging in his lawsuit that the department didn't back off the practice, but instead 'did nothing more than remind officers of the department's social media policy. Nothing changed.'

Vehicles sit parked next to tents beneath the overpass of U.S. Highway 101 in Los Angeles earlier this month. The city has been stepping up efforts to remove illegal encampments of people living on the streets

The lack of action left Schellenberg and other homeless people vulnerable to 'sanctioned harassment' by private parties and the police.

The lawsuit includes an online post from an officer updating group members about efforts moving an occupant of an encampment into housing, and mentions Schellenberg by name.

The post also says a letter was submitted to the Department of Mental Health on the homeless man's behalf to get him additional funding 'to move him to a location.'

The officer's comments add that 'lawsuits by transients and civil rights groups' had prevented cops form 'immediately addressing this issue', and includes links to news reports about the homeless.

Schellenberg, who is retired, disabled and living on a fixed income, 'does not suffer from mental illness other than ordinary stress and trauma from living on the streets, nor is he a drug addict, the lawsuit states.

The suit mentions an officer's attempts to have Schellenberg move his encampment from Warner Center Park in Woodland Hills in August 2018, but disputes that he was 'camping' at the site. He was forced to move, but was not given a summons.

The suit also notes how Schellenberg's van was parked legally on Aug. 25, 2019, but towed by police after a post was made in a Facebook group complaining the vehicle had been in the spot for two weeks.

'Who can I call about this? He's been parked here for 2 weeks on street parking... I think his rent is the meter?' the group member wrote about a month before the vehicle was removed by police who know Schellenberg, the suit alleges.

A picture is included with the post showing the homeless man standing next to the van, hobbled over a baby stroller he was using to carry his belongings.

'Mr. Schellenberg was only able to retrieve a few items and blanketsfrom his vehicle before it was towed,' the lawsuit says. 'That night, he slept on the street.'