LAPD Clears Homeless Encampment Overrun by Rats Near Residential Neighborhood

LAPD Clears Homeless Encampment Overrun by Rats Near Residential Neighborhood

In April, I noted that Los Angeles County reported a record countywide surge in typhus, with 220 confirmed human cases in 2025 and about 90% requiring hospitalization.  Furthermore, there were multiple localized “outbreak zones” besides Skid Row, including in Santa Monica.

As a reminder, typhus is a flea-borne disease caused by the bacterium Rickettsia typhi. Fleas become infected when they bite infected animals (like rats who scurry around homeless camps). Once infected, the flea spreads the disease to humans when flea feces are rubbed into the eyes or come into contact with cuts or scrapes on the skin.

Historical documents confirm typhus has been a major killer, especially in times of war or famine.  Its mortality rate is 10-15 in untreated cases, and can be as high as 40% in vulnerable populations.  It is truly a medieval disease.

Then, in May, Los Angeles mayoral aspirant Spencer Pratt promised he would clear the city of medieval diseases.

Now, for some strange reason, city officials seem more motivated to clear the encampments.

Los Angeles police say they are addressing what they describe as a health and safety hazard on city streets following an operation near downtown.

Officers from the LAPD’s Rampart Station were called to a homeless encampment just west of downtown.

Authorities said items at the site were completely blocking the sidewalk and that the encampment had a significant rat infestation.

Police said such conditions can create dangers for pedestrians by making sidewalks unusable, particularly for people with disabilities who rely on clear paths of travel.

The operation resulted in several felony and misdemeanor arrests, according to police. Officers also issued multiple citations.

Los Angeles police say they are addressing what they describe as a health and safety hazard on city streets following an operation at a homeless encampment near downtown L.A. Authorities said items at the site were blocking the sidewalk and that the encampment was crawling with… pic.twitter.com/Emad4Y214y

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) May 24, 2026

The video released by the LAPD shows encampments overrun by rats, just steps from adjacent homes.

Trash and debris spill into the street while tents, makeshift shelters, bikes and garbage block the sidewalks.

A second clip is even more gross, showing rats swarming through piles of trash as the disease-carrying rodents crawl in and out of shelters and debris.

When people ask why we do enforcement at homeless encampments, this is why,” the post from LAPD read. “It is completely blocking the sidewalk making it impossible for our neighbors with disabilities to pass and it creates a health hazard,” they continued.

However, hours later, the campers were returning.

Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department cleared a rat-infested homeless encampment in a Pico Union neighborhood on Thursday. But hours later, people started setting up tents on the sidewalk again.

Neighbors and business owners said this is the frustrating cycle they’ve become accustomed to near the intersections along West Olympic Boulevard.

The crackdown in District 1 was part of the city’s CARE+ program, in which outreach teams, sanitation crews and LAPD work together to clear encampments. LAPD’s Rampart Division posted videos and photos of rats darting through the sprawling encampment on Instagram.

Meanwhile, during a recent interview, Pratt promised to unplug the drug addicts from the NGOs that were supporting these conditions….indicating they will likely find their way to Seattle.

“Well, they’re not homeless, they’re drug addicts… These people have been bused in by scam rehabs, scam NGOs, scam homeless nonprofits.”

“These people, when I unplug them … they’re all going to Seattle, where the mayor will welcome them.”

NEW: Spencer Pratt fires back at reporter after he was asked about his plan for the homeless, says they will all end up in Seattle.

Reporter: "What are your plans for the over 40,000 homeless in Los Angeles?"

Pratt: "Well, they're not homeless, they're drug addicts… These… pic.twitter.com/rLaxyvKF0a

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 25, 2026

Pratt continues to shake up the Los Angeles mayor’s race with innovative messaging.

Spencer Pratt is using reverse graffiti (also called clean graffiti) to highlight LA’s streets.
By power washing stencils into years of built-up sidewalk dirt, he’s revealing clean pavement underneath — literally showing what a cleaner Los Angeles could look like.

Think bigger… pic.twitter.com/ZxLzoUgQn8

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) May 24, 2026

Los Angeles’ worsening typhus surge is not some mysterious public health anomaly but is the predictable outcome of policies that have tolerated open-air drug scenes, unmanaged encampments, and the unsanitary conditions that naturally follow.

Pratt’s willingness to directly call out the role of entrenched drug use and the enabling systems around it marks a notable shift from the status quo of passive management. By focusing on removing the incentives that keep individuals cycling through street addiction, his approach acknowledges a hard truth: without addressing the behavioral drivers and the grifting NGOs leeching off of misplaced compassion for the drug addicts, efforts like encampment sweeps will remain temporary fixes.

Targeting the root causes offers a more realistic path to reducing the filth, the rats, and ultimately the disease risks that now threaten both vulnerable populations and the broader community.

As an added bonus…it will get rid of the medieval diseases.

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