Part six of a 20-month long investigation looking into hygiene stations that the City of Los Angeles distributed to homeless encampments.
City Reverses Decision to Remove Washing Stations from Encampments Following L.A. Taco Investigation
The city extended the program two months after a L.A. TACO investigation found that vendors failed to service units consistently, despite collecting millions of dollars in payments.
A city program that brought hundreds of hand-washing stations and portable toilets to the doorstep of dozens of encampments during the height of the pandemic comes to an abrupt end.
While vendors watched their market share increase and collected money from the city and federal government, an L.A. TACO analysis found that hundreds of hand-washing stations and porta-potties went days, weeks and in some cases more than a month without being serviced.
This is the second investigative article by Lexis-Olivier Ray that was produced as a project for the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2020 Data Fellowship.
