Outreach is ramping up along South Grand Boulevard after a now-retracted letter from a local taxing district instructed businesses not to give water and call 911 on unhoused people—but one local restaurant owner says the increase in attention has been met with an increase in need.
Two weeks after the letter from the South Grand Community Improvement District (CID) generated an online firestorm, service providers are in the midst of a concerted effort to help the estimated one to two dozen unhoused people living in the area.
But Natasha Bahrami, whose family has run a restaurant in the heart of the business district for decades, says the situation has become more challenging than ever, with more instances where people need help for mental health or substance use issues. She says the perception that the district is a haven for homelessness has only exacerbated the problems businesses have been seeing…