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Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) warned a reporter not to cover a story regarding an event she took part in near a homeless encampment in Los Angeles as the situation grew tense amid some confusion regarding Section 8 housing vouchers.
The New York Post reported that Waters attended the chaotic event in which hundreds of homeless people showed up thanks to an inaccurate social media report claiming that Section 8 housing vouchers were being handed out:
…Waters tried to stop the publication of a news story about Los Angeles’ homeless crisis this week, reportedly telling a Los Angeles Times scribe: “You’ll hurt yourself and the community trying to put this together.”
The Wednesday story by investigative reporter Connor Sheets detailed a March 25 incident in South Los Angeles, where hundreds of homeless people tried to obtain Section 8 housing vouchers after being misled by social media rumors.
The would-be applicants crashed an event held by the nonprofit advocacy group Fathers and Mothers Who Care, which had been meant to help the unhoused obtain emergency shelter.
Amid the confusion and rising tensions, the non-profit group became overwhelmed as did staffers for the Los Angeles Housing Services Authority (LAHSA), who informed the unexpected crowd that they would only be able to take their information and put it into an emergency housing database.
As things got more boisterous, Waters at one point made the crowd angrier when she demanded, “I want everybody to go home!”
“We don’t got no home, that’s why we’re here!” a member of the crowd hollered back, according to the LA Times. “What home we gonna go to?”
At that point, Waters reportedly responded by laughing and saying: “Nothing is going to happen here today.”
Not long after, she appeared to get upset by a question asked by someone associated with a local nonprofit housing advocacy group.
“Excuse me, there’s nobody in Washington who works for their people any f**king harder than I do,” she said. “I don’t want to hear this. No, no, no.”
One woman who is homeless and disabled named Joyce Burnett told the L.A. Times that the California Democrat told the crowd to come back to the South Angeles office the following Tuesday to pick up appropriate documents.
“Maxine Waters was here, and she said to come back Tuesday with our paperwork filled out,” Burnett said. “I have it, everything they asked for. But every time we get near the front of the line, they shut the door. They opened the door about 20 minutes ago and said they’re not servicing anyone else today.”
When contacted by the Times Tuesday, Waters demanded that the story not be published, saying “it’s a bunch of rumors.”
“You’ll hurt yourself and the community trying to put this together without background,” she told Sheets, according to the paper. “I don’t want you to start trying to write it, you won’t understand it.”
The Post added:
Blanca Jimenez, Waters’ district director, responded to questions from the outlet by providing a link to a local TV station’s glowing coverage of Waters’ appearance at the Friday event along with an image of Waters addressing the crowd.
“Someone shared this photo with the office,” Jimenez wrote. “Isn’t she brave?”
100s of people were misinformed & lined up thinking housing vouchers were being handed out today. Congresswoman Maxine Waters noticed the crowd and stopped by to give them the real information about the emergency housing vouchers and help out. @RepMaxineWaters @MaxineWaters @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/LYEs5Fq8gO
— Ashley Mackey (@abc7ashley) March 25, 2022
L.A.’s homeless problem has gotten worse over the past few years, rising so much that it is the top issue for Los Angelenos in this year’s mayoral race.
As far as voter concerns expressed to candidates, homelessness “is definitely No. 1. A very close No. 2 is public safety,” U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, one of about a dozen candidates, told USA Today.
