Caltrans crews clean up Atwater Village homeless encampment under 2 Freeway

There were mixed emotions in Atwater Village Thursday as Caltrans crews cleaned up a homeless encampment under the 2 Freeway.

The encampment, called the Casitas community because it is on Casitas Avenue under the 2 Freeway, was finally cleared and cleaned up by crews Thursday morning. Some of the residents of the encampment, who were given a week's notice of the clearing, stood by and watched from the sidewalk.

"It's heartbreaking," said Grace of Streetwatch LA. "Sometimes I get really emotional because this people's entire, like, this is all they have."

But for homeowners in the area, the clean-up effort was a welcome sight.

"Yes, about time, thank you!" a resident named Albert cheered. "I've been here 58 years and this has been going on five years now. They have fires, every weekend they have a fire under the bridge, it's going to fall down soon."

It is illegal to camp on fenced-off state property, so Caltrans workers came out last week to warn the Casitas community residents of the sweep. Volunteers with outreach groups like Streetwatch LA have been working to help people move with their personal belongings.

Natasha Durel, who has struggled with housing herself, says she understands Caltrans crews are just doing their jobs, but homeless encampment sweeps don't work when there's nowhere to move the people who were living in them.

'If we're ripping apart safety, if we're ripping apart people's homes, how is that supposed to be part of the solution?" she said.