DATELINE

TINY HOME REBEL

REPORTER: Dean Cornish & Calliste Weitenberg

ELVIS SUMMERS: I build everything with screws cause I make a lot of mistakes. It’s easy to back out your mistakes [laughs]. 

DEAN: In Compton, South Central LA, a pint-sized idea has Elvis Summers in a battle with city authorities. 

ELIVIS: When you have nothing and nowhere to go, you know having something like this may as well be a castle. 

The mayor of Los Angeles has declared the city as in the midst of a homelessness crisis. So Elvis is trying to solve it, one tiny house at a time.

ELVIS: The Tiny House idea is very simple. It's shelter. Food, water and shelter are not optional. They're required for human survival. So it's a temporary solution and like the first stone in a foundation, if you will, to helping people who are homeless. 

According to Elvis, these cheap and portable tiny homes are meant to be on the stress of LA. 

ELVIS: I do need to fix these. 

But right now, they are not moving anywhere because city authorities have banned them. 

REPORTER: So these all used to belong to somebody huh? 

ELVIS: Yep. 

REPORTER: And now they are not being used. 

EVLIS: No. Now they've been sitting here for a better part of a year collecting dust and people are struggling and suffering. So yeah, it's really sad. I mean it’s, you know, this is human life here, you know? [laughs]

Los Angeles authorities have accused his tiny homes of threatening public safety. But Elvis has seen the Tiny House Movement go viral online with support coming from right across the world. So with the help with internet crowd funding, he's going rouge. 

ELIVS: Once completed, they all have new carpet and pad. They'll be alarms on the windows. I put the vents, I leave these holes in the top, you know, it gets really hot in the summer here so that way the heat will rise and go out. 

In the city of angels, Elvis is considered one by the powers that be. But to the homeless, he is one of the few struggling to get them off the streets. 

EVLIS: I don't quit and I don't give up and I definitely don't bow down to bullies. People need shelter now and if I have to build a tiny house for every last person until I'm 500 years old [laughs], then that's what I'm going to do. 

Elvis is building his next house for a woman called Raven. 

ELVIS: So there's a few people who live here. 

Raven is living under this tarpaulin next to a freeway. 

ELVIS: Ray-ray! 

It's unhygienic and far from safe. 

ELVIS: Raven!

A situation much worse than when Elvis last saw her. He even wears a flak jacket while visiting her. 

EVLIS: Ray-ray, you home? It's Elvis. Hey!

RAVEN: Hey! 

ELVIS: How are you? 

RAVEN: How are you? [laughs] Good. 

ELIVS: Good to see you. 

Raven's been on and off the streets most of her life. 

RAVEN: I'll take him for a walk, show him the area?

ELVIS: Yeah, sure. 

After fleeing a violent home when she was just 13-years-old, she once had a tiny house, but since the city forced them off the street she's been out here. 

ELVIS: So you doing alright? 

RAVEN: I'm doing alright. 

EVLIS: Tired? 

RAVEN: After getting the Tiny House I happened to do pretty well I was able to accumulate, say, a pretty good life right there in that Tiny House and when they took it I was like, 'Ah! What are they doing? [laughs] What are they doing to me?' Like a dream come true destroyed. 

Elvis is worried by the state of this communal camp and he leaves to buy Raven a tent until he can build her a new Tiny House.

ELVIS: I'm going to go get the tent and I'll randevu with you guys in a little while, yeah?  

RAVEN: Great. 

Alone, Raven opens up about her situation. 

RAVEN: It's been a struggle, it's been a struggle. But I'm hanging in there. The city always kicks us out from where we're staying. They tell us to clean out and move. Who wants to constantly move their stuff every day, you know? It's not easy ... 

REPORTER: It's stressful.  

RAVEN: Very stressful. 

Raven's out here because she feels emergency shelters are either overbooked or unsafe. But city laws are designed to move these camps on and as if on cue, she receives a visit.

RAVEN: Alright. Okay. Police said we've got to move. Got to move all of this by Saturday, she said. I better call Elvis. Elvis has a truck. 

Raven is given marching orders and she's running out of places to go. 

RAVEN: They want everybody downtown. They want everybody in one section and it's not going to happen. People are trying to scatter and like branch out. People are trying to get away from downtown and people are trying to get away from downtown, you know what I mean? 

REPORTER: What section do they mean? 

RAVEN: Skid Row. It's the worst place in history to be homeless downtown. 

If you are homeless in LA, city laws to keep streets clear give you two choices. Keep moving, or live on Skid Row. This is the only place you can set up a tent without the city forcing you to leave, but Elvis' Tiny Homes aren't allowed here. 

ANDY BALES: Skid Row is unlike anything else in the United States. I call it the worst man-made disaster in the US. 

ANDY BALES: Hi, how are you? Doing okay? 

Andy Bales runs a big emergency shelter in the middle of Skid Row. 

ANDY BALES: Would you like to?   

He's seen the number of women seeking help here triple in just a year.

ANDY BALES: You're always welcome. What's your name? Dedra? Nice to meet you. God bless you. You've got pretty eyes. 

HOMELESS WOMAN: Thank you. 

Andy's on crotches because last year he lost a leg to the flesh-eating bacteria that lives, exists out here. Still, everyday he's out inviting new arrivals to his shelter because he knows just how bad it gets. 

ANDY BALES: More than 2,000 people on these streets, 49 square blocks of Skid Row. It's the worst that we've ever seen. Just to give you an idea, you really need to look down that street. There's not one open spot of cement or sidewalk for probably half a mile down that way. 

Elvis's Tiny Houses are designed as an option to avoid sleeping on Skid Row because here the increasing number of woman and children are sleeping alongside drugs, crime and the mentally ill and police are the only source of protection.   

REPORTER: Sirens are pretty constant Andy. 

ANDY BALES: Yes. Day and night. Hi. 

HOMELESS WOMAN: Hello. 

But maintaining order can be a struggle. 

ANDY BALES: Running with handcuffs. The man was running with handcuffs. He was fast. I spend one night every once in a while on the streets and I can't sleep because it is so dangerous and you just stay alert. Rats are running around, running over people, running in their tents and often people get beaten, or assaulted, or raped and that in effect can damage your mental health pretty quickly. So I am all for Tiny Houses, but there has to be restroom facilities and shower facilities because otherwise we are putting people in treacherous living conditions just as if they are living in a tent.

This is why Andy shelter keeps an open door policy but he is struggling to keep up with demand. 

HOMELESS MAN: Hey how you doing man? 

ANDY BALES: Good to see you. 

Right across the city, shelters are full up. Many have to turn people away.

ANDY BALES: The simple fact in LA is there's just not enough shelter. There are not enough beds. Forty-seven thousand people experiencing homelessness and there are about 12,000 shelter beds and transitional housing beds. Even if the people on the streets right now decided to come in, there is nowhere to come in. There's not place to go.

POLICE MAN: Watch the traffic guys. 

With limited access to emergency shelters and low cost housing, life on the streets in LA is an endless game of cat and mouse. Because the city is charged with keeping the streets clean. This Department of Sanitation crew is about to move through the homeless encampments of skid row. 

OFFICER: Make sure you have you tyvek suits on make sure you're taped out, watch out for syringes, watch out for hazardous materials, watch out for human waste. 

Industrial operations like this happen daily across Los Angeles, forcing the homeless to be constantly on the move. 

ADEL HAGEKHALIL: We are here every day in Skid Row. Every street is cleaned once every two weeks. So the cycle is a big effort that we are doing. But I think it is essential. It is essential to the city's liveability, essentially to the city's economic growth and also the city's image. 

This team will put more than 5 tonnes in the garbage truck today. Anything they deem to be unsanitary. Most of it will be rubbish, but some of it will be people's tents and their few possessions. 

ADEL HAGEKHALIL: So by cleaning this I think we are providing a safe and healthy environment for somebody. 

REPORTER: So are they keeping that one or throwing it? 

ADEL HAGEKHALIL: What's the decision on this tent? 

OFFICER: It's being thrown, it's got poop all over it and it's got urine in it. 

ADEL HAGEKHALIL: It's got urine and waste? Yeah, okay. 

The city gives advanced notice of the clean-up, but not everyone gets the message and today there are some unlucky ones. 

REPORTER: How do people react when you ask them to move along? 

ADEL HAGEKHALIL: They like it because we are cleaning. I mean if you are a homeless person, living on the street, do you want to live on a clean sidewalk or a filthy sidewalk? They see the value of us cleaning this. 

But the city's focus on keeping the streets clean means further instability when you are living on them. It's also one of the main reasons Elvis' Tiny Houses are banned. Blamed for hampering operations like this.

 ADEL HAGEKHALIL: In a way it's a tent that's a permanent tent on the street. So we can't clean the area and if you go inside it is not safe conditions to live in. So we, basically the city has made a determination that those should not be on the city streets. 

REPORTER: It's a staggeringly quick operation here, um, just over 45 minutes and this section of the street outside the Union Mission is done, it's clean and people are starting to filter back in. 

OFFICER: You going in here? Alright, let’s go, hurry. 

REPORTER: I can't imagine what it must be like to lose that one thing that you have, that tent full of possessions. To come back and find it gone. 

Later that day, I arrive back at Raven's encampment. 

RAVEN: They made a mess. They took shit out of the crates. Basically took what they wanted. 

And find out that getting your belongings cleared up can be devastating. 

RAVEN: Her property, they destroyed it and took her money. 

REPORTER: Do you mind if I ask you what happened? 

CHRISTINE: All I know is they came and they took my stuff. You know? They said, they told me the rules, you have to be 10 feet away from a driveway, the tent has to be down from 6 to 9, unless it's raining and I have 72 hours to move my stuff.

Christine is new to the streets. Priced out of the rental market, she's desperately trying to get back into an apartment. She saves money by collecting recyclables, but the authorities have just taken an entire weeks work. 

CHRISTINE: This is what the recycle does for me! This is my room money! So I can get an apartment! So I get to be with my dog and get off the streets. 

The city's clean up means Christine will be out here even longer. 

CHRISTINE: I didn't think four walls mattered, until I came to a tent. Now it's just like, I want those four walls back.

For many homeless people in LA, a lack of unaffordable housing makes it impossible to get off the streets. Less than 3 per cent of the city's rental market is vacant. While Raven waits on a tiny house from Elvis, Christine is determined to make it on her own. With her last week’s work confiscated, tonight she's back again collecting recyclables. 

CHRISTINE: I usually can just tell what it is by the sound. 

REPORTER: What are the sounds that you look for? 

CHRISTINE: Oh, okay. If you would hear it, without looking at it, what is this? 

REPORTER: That's a can [laughs]. 

CHRISTINE: Yeah, yes [laughs]. 

She works almost until dawn to save for an apartment, with a smile. 

CHRSTINE: I pretty much know, just by looking at it what I have, how much I make and I always usually make 180 to 220 a week. You know? And that's for me, enough for me to survive, you know? That's how I bought my tents, you know? Little by little. 

We walk around most of the night and then Christine shows me something heartbreaking. 

CHRSTINE: This is the famous blue house, right there. 

REPORTER: Oh wow.

CHRSTINE: That's the blue house that I called my home. A lot of memories here. 

REPORTER: So that was home, huh? 

CHRSITINE: This is home for me, yeah. It was. 

REPORTER: You miss it, huh? 

CHRISTINE: I do. It was home. It was four walls that I felt secure in, but I'll have that again. It's just in God's timing, not mine. You got to keep that in mind. This was my backyard. Don't be a stranger, okay? 

Elvis's Tiny Homes could help people like Christine until they get back on their feet. Back in Compton, the pressure is on for him to finish Raven's tiny house. But he still needs to locate a place where he can put it. Somewhere the city clean up won't easily find. 

ELVIS: These are two of just 8,000 lots that the city controls but they are all fenced up and bordered off. It's not allowed. 

And while searching, he gets a call from Raven with an unexpected update. 

ELVIS: Are you doing alright? 

RAVEN: I got some news. I don’t know if this is supposed to be good news? 

ELVIS: Yeah? 

RAVEN: I'm pregnant. I just found out this morning that I'm pregnant. I don't know how I'm going to go about handling that but. 

ELVIS: Holy shit. 

RAVEN: Hopefully by the time the baby's here I'll have my life together. 

Elvis is already worried about Raven, but he musters some enthusiasm. 

EVLIS: Alright well listen, I got to run right now but I'll call you back later. That's great news, we have to celebrate. 

REPORTER: It's precarious isn't it? 

ELVIS: I want to jump for joy and like cry at the same time, like. 

This is how quickly a change in circumstance can see your life go from bad to worse when you're on the street. With the stakes raised for her Tiny House, I want to see how Raven is coping with the news of her pregnancy. 

RAVEN: Sorry. 

Despite getting orders to move, she's still here at the same Campsite. 

RAVEN: Oh God. 

REPORTER: What's that? 

RAVEN: You don't want to know .... The other day I found out I have a baby on the way

REPORTER: How did that make you feel? 

RAVEN: Like, um, I'm a little concerned regarding the conditions I'm living in at this time. I got a lot of business to take care of and I don't know if I'm going to have enough time to take care of it all. That's what makes me feel like ... 

REPORTER: Like what? 

RAVEN: Like, like getting off these streets. 

But getting off the streets is difficult for Raven. We talk more and she reveals the devastating level of violence she experienced as a kid. 

REPORTER: Where did you live? 

RAVEN: On the streets. I was listed as a juvenile runaway when I was 9-years-old. 

REPORTER: Wow. 

RAVEN: My Dad, my Dad been in prison my whole and when my mom was 5 months pregnant with me he committed a murder. He killed a woman, a young woman, sliced her throat. Basically I had no choice but to grow up before it was really time. 

Raven's had to learn to be tough, but she's right on the edge. Like more and more American's, she's trapped in the deep cycle of long term homelessness with no immediate way of getting out. When your life is the size of a tent, hope can be a powerful tool. It's almost delivery day and with the news that Raven's pregnant, Elvis is adding a special finishing touch to her Tiny House. 

ELVIS: It's like the Milky Way, just a little something to make her feel better and help her feel like she's got a night sky to look at. 

Elvis knows how important little details like this can be. He's watched too many people lose hope on the streets. 

ELVIS: Since the city forced me to take houses away from people, three people have died. Mainly due to being stuck out in the elements and not having anywhere to go. So it's criminal. It's a picture of Smokey sitting in a doorway of her, her Tiny House. 

One of the people who died was his close friend, Smokey, who received the very first Tiny House. 

ELVIS: On New Year’s morning they found her dead in somebody else’s tent, not even her own cause the city took that too. So. It's pretty simple, without shelter people die. So, it's been a few months but she was a good person and she was my friend and ... I miss her a lot. 

Inside City Hall, the pressure is on to create more housing. The city has approved a multi-billion dollar strategy to help the homeless, but it will take 10 years to build 10,000 new units which is well below demand. Yet Officials refuses to embrace Elvis' Tiny Homes. 

JOE BUSCAINO: For me, a Tiny House on a city parking space is not a solution. We are doing a disservice to those individuals who would be staying in these Tiny Homes without the adequate infrastructure in place. 

City Councillor, Joe Buscaino, opposed Tiny Houses in his district because of concerns from angry residents. 

JOE BUSCAINO: You have to have someone monitoring the site, otherwise it will be a free for all. It will be sex, drugs and rock n' roll and ... 

REPORTER: You think they would be drunk?

JOE BUSCAINO: You have to have some rules in place.  

ELIVS: What's up Facebook land? The city is back, yep, and they are here wiping out these guys out ... 

Back with Elvis and the city is clearing tents yet again this time at Raven and Christine's camp. 

EVLIS: Right now that little dumping up there that was Christine’s shelves and such on inside her tent. That's considered a "bulky item" so it's going in the dumpster. 

Almost half of Raven and Christine's belongings are taken by the Department of Sanitation. But Raven's not around, so only Christine is here to see it. 

CHRISTINE: They say you don't hit rock bottom, until you hit rock bottom. This is my rock bottom right here! 

ELVIS: All that money spent, you could spend half of that and get these people a place to go. But instead they are treated like animals. 

MAN: So where are you going to go? 

CHRISTINE: I don't know [cries]. 

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With Raven's camp demolished, most of her possessions gone and with baby on the way, Elvis must deliver her Tiny House before nightfall. 

ELVIS: I finally found a suitable location for Raven's Tiny House. It's in a quiet area, mostly industrial. It's not going to affect anybody. 

Elvis and Raven hope this part of downtown LA, away from Skid Row; will be safe from the authorities. Authorities who must continue to keep LA streets clean. 

REPORTER: The day has finally come for the Tiny House delivery and how are you feeling? 

RAVEN: Very good. Despite everything, I'm feeling very good. I'm going through a lot of drama, a lot of changes, a lot of, I've been going through a lot fo hardship lately. I just hope that this Tiny House leads to permanent houses.

ELVIS: After the week that she's had and everything she's gone through, on top of being pregnant, it's more important now that she gets the house because I don't think she can go much longer with not getting any rest. 

REPORTER: You really fear for her life? 

ELVIS: I do. 

REPORTER: What do you think? 

RAVEN: I think I'm going to faint. Wooo. Shit. Big girl, wow. Aw, look! Our cute's this house? [screams] How cute! 

ELVIS: Tiny House, take two. 

RAVEN: Tiny House, take two. I love it. I love it. 

ELVIS: I got a couple surprises inside for you and ah, let me just get the key. 

RAVEN: I looked, I cheated, I looked inside the window [laughs]. I did. 

ELVIS: Most things I do in life are out of principle. I was taught that when somebody falls down, you pick them back up. That's what we should do in life. Do you remember that day when you, when you called me? You called me and said, "You know when people sit on their back porch and look at the stars?" You said, "Well, I'm looking up at a blue tarp". 

RAVEN: [laughs] Yeah, yeah I sure did. 

ELVIS: So you can sit and not look at a blue tarp, but look at the stars ... 

RAVEN: That's cool. 

ELVIS: You got to imagine a little bit, but. 

RAVEN: Thank you. 

So finally, Raven gets her own private space and hopefully, for the first time in over a year, a good night’s sleep. 

REPORTER: And how long do you think it's going to last? 

RAVEN: Well I wish I could say it would last forever. I wish it could last forever, but um ... I put it in God's hands. 

Reporter + Camera      Dean Cornish 

Story Producer     Calliste Weitenberg

Story Editor        Simon Phegan