Los Angeles is facing a growing homeless crisis, and one homeless man has resorted to living in an underground utility vault just steps away from a historic museum.
A homeless man was found living in an underground vault outside the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles. The man, whose identity has not been released, was spotted by the museum’s security cameras at crawling into the vault, which measures about 2 feet wide, 4 feet long, and 5 feet deep. Leonard Redway, the head of security at the museum, said the man was able to stand up completely in the vault and told him he slept there and drank water from the spigot.
The police were called and the man, who allegedly struck one of the responding LAPD officers, was arrested and charged with trespassing and battery on a police officer. Police found drugs and a plastic gun when they conducted a search of the man’s belongings.
Doug Van Kirk, the Chief Financial Officer of the museum, said these utility vaults are not safe places to live in. “Those are not designed for human beings to be in for long periods of time,” he said. “We take the safety of our employees and our guests very seriously.”
A report published last month found 171,000 people were homeless in California, making up 30% of the country’s entire homeless population. Cities around the country are implementing a wide range of tactics to battle the local homeless crisis, but the situation in Los Angeles remains dire.
With information from: KTLA5
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