> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Homelessness hits home in SM - URL: https://www.smdp.com/homelessness-hits-home-in-sm/ - Published: 2005-02-08T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T06:04:18.000Z - Author: John Wood - Tags: Community, Mid-City, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness *Homeless man evicted from alleyway cupboard* MID-CITY — When dealing with homelessness in Santa Monica, some residents and merchants fear any space that’s not locked up is real estate for the taking. Police ask that incidents of trespassing and public nuisance be reported, but not everyone has the inclination to get authorities involved — or the time to wait for backup. One Santa Monica apartment manager last week issued a three-day eviction notice to a homeless person that had commandeered a storage area in the alley behind his building. The homeless person filled the cupboard, left vacant by a previous tenant, with personal items and locked it up with a combination padlock. The following day the sign was gone, but the lock was not. On Monday, one week later, the manager decided to act. Inside the cupboard, located in the alley behind an apartment building at 1228 15th St., were sleeping bags, duffel bags, a box of food and several trash bags filled with clothing, including a replica basketball jersey of the Philadelphia 76ers’ Allen Iverson. “Santa Monica is the home of the homeless,” said Nemesio Cervantes, a field supervisor for Fred Leeds Property Management, which owns the Santa Monica apartment building, along with about 200 others in the greater Los Angeles area. “They get fed and they get shelter in Santa Monica. They are more welcome. In Santa Monica, you have the sophisticated homeless.” Cervantes, a 15-year resident of the Sunset Park neighborhood in Santa Monica, said he instructs building managers to walk their properties each morning and evening. He said the intrusive vagrancy can be stemmed partially by regularly intercepting homeless people who dig through trash cans, sleep in side yards or otherwise venture onto private space. “The key is to stay on top of it, and as soon as you see them coming, talk to them,” said Cervantes, adding the problem is even more severe in downtown Los Angeles. While City Hall sponsors a range of homeless services and has established a homeless liaison office to better deal with the local homeless population, officials said residents and merchants should turn to police with complaints of transients on private property. “It’s really a law enforcement issue,” said Judy Rambeau, a City Hall spokeswoman. “If someone actually is trespassing on private property, that’s really something the police deal with.” Rambeau said city human service workers often step in after vagrants interact with officers, and try to hook up offenders with what City Hall dubs its “continuum of care,” a network of nonprofit groups that works to transition homeless people off of the streets and into permanent housing and full-time jobs. Human services staffers at City Hall also often connect homeless people that aren’t stopped by authorities with local social service providers as part of the continuum of care. Police receive hundreds of calls for service on a range of issues each day, though they are grouped by type and don’t specifically sift out the calls concerning homeless people. Lt. Frank Fabrega of the Santa Monica Police Department said residents and merchants who are concerned about trespassers should call police. “The most important thing the public needs to be aware of is trespassing is a crime that a citizen’s arrest needs to be made,” said Fabrega, adding once an officer arrives to the scene, a formal complaint can be lodged and, if an individual wants to prosecute, the trespasser will be arrested and taken to Santa Monica Jail. As to the alleyway cupboard, Fabrega suggested property owners keep all areas secure, but said such issues are not police matters as it is up to the landlords to determine whether their property is being used by a tenant or someone else. Fabrega added residents and merchants should be wary of taking matters into their own hands. While the previous property manager at the 15th Street building suggested the current one spray homeless people with garden hoses or use other, more aggressive, means to get transients off private property, Fabrega said those actions are criminal. “If you spray someone with a hose, a garden hose, that’s an assault,” he added. “The appropriate avenue is to call the police, and we’ll send officers out and we’ll ask them to move on. We’re not encouraging them to take the law into their own hands.” Still, not everyone feels compelled to wait for officers. Cervantes said dealing with homelessness in Santa Monica has become a routine effort and he rarely feels compelled to call authorities. “It happens overnight,” he added. “You’re fine, and then all of a sudden, the next day, you find these boxes.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/020805-02_01-7.jpg) MOVING ON: An apartment manager on Monday removed bags of clothes, food and sleeping bags locked in a vacant storage area behind his Santa Monica apartment building. (Photo: John Wood/Daily Press) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/020805-02_02-7.jpg) EVICTION NOTICE: A three-day notice awaits a homeless person who took over a vacant storage cupboard behind a Santa Monica apartment building. (Photo: John Wood/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 8, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/020805.pdf?ref=smdp.com)