Arson, assault, harassment and vandalism: as the rising cost of housing funnels more Los Angeles residents out of their homes and onto the streets, homeless people and their advocates are reporting an alarming rise in vigilante attacks against the unhoused.

In late August, a fast-moving fire in the hip, residential neighborhood of Eagle Rock briefly dominated headlines when it temporarily closed down two freeways and triggered a small-scale evacuation. In the week that followed, authorities revealed the fire had started in a homeless encampment, and was set by two men, one the son of the local chamber of commerce president. No one was injured, but prosecutors are reportedly considering charges of attempted murder.

By the time of the Eagle Rock fire, advocates for the homeless say they had already clocked a steady rise in vigilantism. Statistics have long shown that the homeless are more likely than the housed to be the victims of a variety of crimes. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) doesn’t keep specific records of vigilante attacks against the homeless. But in interviews with close to a dozen people who live on the streets and in their cars, all said there had been a noticeable increase in attacks and harassment from people who target them for being homeless over the past year.

Many of those attacks have occurred in the San Fernando Valley, a sprawling network of suburbs with a growing homeless population.(The Guardian)…[+]