Cities Struggle with Cleaning Up Belongings of the Homeless

Dealing with possessions of homeless a big problem for cities, By Maria L. La Ganga and Alexandra Zavis, July 18, 2012, Los Angeles Times: “Everything in the warehouse mattered, at some point, to someone. A ceramic urn sprouting peacock feathers. A tool chest held together with duct tape. An oak table. A purple bike. Separated out from piles of trash during homeless encampment sweeps, the items were bagged, tagged and inventoried. In the seven weeks since San Jose started photographing and storing such belongings, no one has come to claim them. The city, faced with the specter of costly litigation, has embarked upon a difficult experiment — one that is playing out across California as fiscally strapped cities struggle to balance the health and safety of the general public with the property rights of growing ranks of homeless people. . .”