A moving company crew dumped a truckload of furniture and appliances on Los Angeles’ blighted Skid Row overnight, giving the items away to anyone who could carry them.
Video of the wild scene near 6th and San Pedro streets showed men inside a VIP Moving Company van handing out furniture to unhoused individuals just after midnight.
The items dumped included couches, a keyboard, a BBQ, a refrigerator, yard furniture and a ping-pong table.
The truck driver said the owner wanted to “donate” the items, but it was unclear if this was the owner’s intended method.
“It’s easy to make donations here, but for someone just to put it on the sidewalk is basically senseless,” said Jeff Hudson, CEO of the Union Rescue Mission.
KTLA’s attempts to reach the moving company on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Skid Row is a 50-block area of downtown Los Angeles historically populated by homeless people due to a concentration of service facilities and providers. On any given night, the area has an estimated 4,400 people living on the streets.
A study of public records by Crosstown LA, a nonprofit news outlet, shows illegal dumping in Los Angeles has increased over the first six months of 2024.