- We see them almost every day on our way to work
and rarely give a second thought to those tent cities.
I'm Itay Hod in Hollywood
where one day I decided to stop and stay for 24 hours.
Just me, my camera and those people
we typically try to avoid.
(upbeat music)
It's four o'clock on a Thursday afternoon
and Judy Velez is heading home.
This is Judy's home.
(car engines)
An overpass just above the 101.
- A lot of people don't understand
that not all homeless people are bad people.
A lot of us are good people.
- [Itay] In another Lifetime the Velez family
had a home in Monrovia, a four bedroom, three bath house.
Now Judy, her husband, Enrique,
and three of their four kids
spend their days surviving as best they can.
And they're just one family
among 60,000 other homeless people in LA County.
A number on the rise despite major investment
in fighting the problem.
They ended up on the streets seven years ago
after Enrique was stabbed during a dispute,
an incident that left him disabled
and sent the family into a downward spiral.
Tonight, Judy and her son, Henry,
are heading to a nearby soup kitchen
run by the Hollywood Food Coalition.
- Yes, sir. Name?
- [Itay] Everyone is welcome here on one condition,
you tell Crisco your name.
He mans the front door.
- If you don't want to give us a name, we'll give you one.
(laughter)
- Yeah.
- [Itay] Crisco says he greets up to 250 people
five times a week and for many,
this is their only meal of the day.
- We deal with a lot of mental illness and substance abuse.
When I say substance abuse, that goes along with addiction.
They can't function in the normal realm of society.
They just can't do it.
- [Itay] Tonight's meal, bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches,
chicken and couscous, and even a vegetarian option.
You might be surprised to learn
that food is not their biggest issue.
Even on days when Judy can't walk the three blocks
to the soup kitchen because of her diabetes.
(door slamming)
Enter Rosie Hunter.
Rosie and her Covenant House Youth Shelter
show up four times a week with supplies.
- We just kind of like meet them where they are
and kind of feed them while they're out
in the streets and give them what they need,
like hygiene kits, blankets, food.
- [Itay] After dinner, the Velez family
starts setting up camp.
Henry has it down to a science.
He's gotten used to sleeping on concrete,
but it took a while.
- I didn't sleep for two months.
- [Itay] Imagine putting up your house
and then having to take it down every single day.
And they're only allowed to put up their tents
after 9:00 PM and before 6:00 AM.
So at 6:00 AM, the cops are gonna come
and they have to pack things up.
While most Americans are watching prime time TV,
Judy and Enrique watch the cars go by.
Judy says she never thought she'd ever end up here,
not in a million years.
- Sometimes I think I'm dreaming, you know?
And I said, you know, we had it all.
I mean, my bedroom,
my bathroom was a jacuzzi inside my bathroom, you know?
- The hardest part, telling her kids.
- You know, how do you tell your child you're homeless?
How do you tell your child
you have to sleep behind a trash can?
- [Itay] She knows how people look at her.
She can feel it.
She says if only they could see her for who she is
and who she once was.
- People walk by us like, like we're,
like we're scary or something.
We're not, don't be afraid to say Hi.
- [Itay] Before turning in Judy calls her daughter Angel,
who's about to give birth.
- How many centimeters are you?
- [Itay] Is there any joy at all?
- We're together. We're together.
That's all that matters.
- It's about midnight and if you can hear the cars outside,
we're literally right on top of the 101 freeway.
There are people walking by.
You can hear them as they walk.
This is nothing like camping.
It's cold, it's hard, it smells, and it's scary.
Life like this is day by day,
but this day is gonna great.
- We're gonna get breakfast at Tommy's,
some breakfast burritos on the go,
and then we're gonna go see my daughter.
- [Itay] We're 14 hours into our experience
with a Velez family with another 10 to go.