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Images and video show homeless in Los Angeles syphoning water and power in camps sprouting throughout the city's streets - with some of the brazen encampments even boasting working washing machines.

Homelessness is a dominant issue in the state's upcoming mayoral election, with a large field of candidates promising to do more on an issue that has placed Los Angeles in an unwelcome national spotlight.

Sagging tents, rusting RVs, and makeshift structures have become commonplace along Hollywood Boulevard to Venice Beach - and even in the shadow of City Hall.

Over the past year, the camps have become increasingly bold, putting up full-sized tents and cordoning off entire streets, much to the chagrin of outraged locals.

Now, citizens have snapped evidence that the urban outposts are stealing water and power from the city to maintain a surprisingly lavish lifestyle while living out on the street, taking water from hydrants and electricity from any outlet they come across.

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Startling images and video show homeless in Los Angeles syphoning water and power in camps sprouting throughout the city's streets - with one brazen encampment boasting a working washing machine and a king-size tent, blocking the entrance to a local business

That same day in seedier South-Central, evidence of another, even more shameless encampment surfaced on social media - one also with a working washing machine  and even a oversized that an onlooker noted was blocking a local business.

'1 bedroom tent with garden & working washing machine blocking a business driveway. Welcome to Los Angeles,' the user wrote, in a post that shared video of the washing machine in the middle of a clothes cycle.

On the 'door' to the unseen inhabitant's evidently homey tent, a sign urged onlookers: 'Don't be hatin!'

Such sightings have become increasingly common since the pandemic, when the City of Angels, like many other liberal-run cities across the country, descended into a den of debauchery and crime that it has yet to crawl out of.

This comes as the city's wealthiest residents have been forced to fight a proposed 'mansion tax' on properties over $5million, further enflaming their dissatisfaction with city leadership.

One photo snapped by an awestruck bystander showed one such encampment in Hollywood, where multiple people were seen washing what looked to be their cars and motorcycles with syphoned water from a nearby hydrant.

Multiple cars were parked in the makeshift camp site - which also sported multiple working washing machines and several tents.

The photos, shared to Twitter by @LeatherJoseph on Monday, seem to suggest the camp's inhabitants are also stealing electricity from a nearby street light, to power their appliances and vehicles.

One photo snapped by an awestruck bystander showed one such encampment in Hollywood, where multiple people were seen washing what looked to be their cars and motorcycles with syphoned water from a nearby hydrant.

Multiple cars were parked in the makeshift camp site - which also sported multiple working washing machines and several tents

The photos, shared to Twitter by @LeatherJoseph on Monday, show that  the camp's inhabitants are also stealing water from a city fire hydrant as well as electricity from a nearby street light, to sustain their surprisingly lavish lifestyle

The city's current crime-ridden state has spurred countless locals and even celebrities to flee the Golden State for a better life, with the most recent being actor Mark Wahlberg, who is fleeing his longtime home in LA in favor for a life in nearby Nevada.

The likes of Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, and Matt Damon have also participated in the mass exodus - as well as hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens - citing a combination of over taxes, crime, and the state's notorious ever-worsening homeless problem. 

Moreover, the state recently experienced its first population decline in decades last year, when roughly 250,000 residents were reported to have left the city - many instead electing to buy property in less costly locales such as Texas and Arizona. 

Mayoral candidate Rick Caruso has made keeping Hollywood 'in Hollywood' a huge point of his campaign - though he appears to be fighting a losing battle to woke progressive Karen Bass. 

Caruso is running against Democrat Karen Bass in the November election on a platform of tackling crime, homelessness and bringing an end to a steady stream of 'career politicians' such as DA George Gascon, whose 'soft-on-crime' policies he says have ruined the city. 

Caruso has also criticized the city's treatment of local businesses, who instead of being rewarded for putting their money into the city, are now faced with aggressive homelessness that likely scares away customers.

Rick Caruso (pictured her in June with actress Gwyneth Paltrow is running against Democrat Karen Bass in November on a platform of tackling homelessness and bringing an end to a 'career politicians' whose 'soft-on-crime' policies he says have ruined the city

Caruso recently asserted how this is the case with Netflix, which moved its headquarters to Hollywood during the pandemic, only to find homeless encampments outside the office on a regular basis.

He cited how current Mayor Eric Garcetti's office has so far failed to address that issue, as well as the hundreds of other camps currently operating in plain sight across the city.

 'Look at [Netflix CEO] Ted Sarandos. Here's a guy who said, "I'm going to make a commitment and have my headquarters actually in Hollywood," and made a big, incredibly wonderful commitment to the city. And what has the city done?' Caruso asked.

'The city has allowed encampments all around that headquarters.'

He added that such encampments is deterring the city's professionals from returning to work at the office, slowing the city's post-pandemic recovery to a virtual standstill.

'People are coming to work, and I've talked to the executives in there, coming to work carrying human waste on their shoes because there's so much human waste on the sidewalk, because we've allowed people to live in the most inhumane situation.

'It's incredible what all of our elected officials have allowed to happen. We're allowing people to live and die in the streets in their own waste. And then we allow that to happen in front of one of the great companies of Hollywood.'

Caruso was a Republican for years before registering as a Democrat earlier this year, ahead of the mayor's race.

He insisted in his interview - and has done throughout his campaign - that party affiliation is irrelevant.

'None of these issues are Republican or Democrat issues. None of them are. These are human issues. These are issues that are affecting all of our lives every single day.

'When crime is spiking, when you've got homicides that are at a 15-year high and it's only getting worse, when you have hate crimes that are up 160 percent, when you have homelessness now at 44,000 and people dying in the streets, these are life and death issues that transcend any kind of party.

'And, I don't look at this as party politics from that standpoint. We've got just serious problems,' he said.

John Maceri, chief executive of the People Concern, one of LA's largest nonprofits serving the homeless, agreed with the overall finding that the city needs to build housing faster and cheaper. 

The solution, he said, is innovative financing, slashing red tape that slows projects and incentives for developers to aggregate funding to speed up construction. 

An enormous homeless encampment is pictured on a street on the west side of Los Angeles

A homeless person sits on the ground Thursday near a camper at an encampment in LA

A makeshift tent  between a camper and a recreational vehicle as homeless encampments sprout all over the city

RVs, campers and school buses are parked along Jefferson Blvd. in Playa Vista section of LA as part of homeless camp 

Makeshift tents line street in Venice Beach as homeless encampments plague popular neighborhood 

A homeless person carries his belongings along Venice Beach

Another encampment of RVs is parked under overpass for Highway 90 in Los Angeles

'Housing has not kept pace with the urgency of the unsheltered homelessness crisis,' Maceri said.

Homeless encampments have spread into virtually every neighborhood of the City of Angels, while the number of homeless has climbed to an estimated 70,000 people. 

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, facing re-election this year, has budgeted record sums to combat homelessness that pervades all of the state's major cities and many smaller communities as well. 

The state is providing roughly $12 billion on homelessness programs over two years.

Still, the government's inability to clear encampments from streets, parks and sidewalks has left voters angry and frustrated. 

Homeless encampments have spread into virtually every neighborhood of the City of Angels, while the number of homeless has climbed to an estimated 70,000 people

The government's inability to clear encampments from streets, parks and sidewalks has left voters angry and frustrated

Pictured: Members of Los Angeles council  talks to a homeless man during a city-wide count

In 2019, then-President Donald Trump threatened to intercede, though he never acted on the threat. 

San Francisco's progressive mayor, London Breed, earlier this year declared a state of emergency in the city's Tenderloin district - one of the most overrun neighborhoods - after concerns about homelessness and open drug-peddling there.

Meanwhile, residents are calling on their local government to address the issue after more than a year of promises to address the rise in encampments, to little success. 

Recently, a Venice Beach community organization warned Los Angeles officials that they were liable for millions in payouts if the remaining homeless encampments were not cleared out, months after the city removed about 200 people from the boardwalk.

The Venice Stakeholders Association sent a letter to several city offices explaining that LA could face a number of expensive lawsuits if they failed to protect the safety of nearby residents. 

Those who live in the area have complained about the garbage littering the boardwalk and the unchecked fires started by people camping outside.

Last year, a fire at a homeless tent near the beach spread to a vacant two-story building and completely destroyed it. It took 116 firefighters two hours to put it out.

The city cleared out hundreds from the area over the summer, but the president of the Venice Stakeholders Association said many still camp out overnight.

Residents have argued that homelessness is the top problem facing the county, with 94 per cent of voters viewing it as a serious or very serious problem

A Venice Beach community organization warned LA city officials that they may face million-dollar lawsuits if the area near Venice Beach isn't kept clear of encampments

Residents have called on their local government to address the issue after more than a year of promises to address the rise in encampments, to little success

 The city cleared out hundreds from the area over the summer, but the president of the Venice Stakeholders Association said many still camp out overnight

Pictured: City councilmember Paul Krekorian (second from left) walks through the streets of Los Angeles

Mark Ryavec, who leads the 11-year-old organization, told KABC: 'There's almost no police presence or fire department presence down here overnight.

'We're putting the city on notice, that, if there's loss of life, if there's a structure, they are clearly already negligent, and they already will face a huge settlement.'

There were 1,901 homeless people in the Venice area in 2020, according to the latest count conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. 

'It's illegal to camp on Venice Beach and we want that message established by enforcement of the rules that exist,' Ryavec added. 

Ryavec's comments came as a poll conducted by The Los Angeles Times found in 10 Los Angeles residents cited the city's homelessness problem as a main cause for feeling unsafe in their communities, with one in five people saying they would consider moving to escape the problem.  

Meanwhile, the city is shelling out up to $837,000 on opulent apartments for its homeless as part of a $1.2billion project to home the region's sprawling homeless population known as Proposition HHH.

The undertaking is intended to build housing for the estimated 41,000 homeless people in the city, has seen about 1,200 units, most of which are studio or one-bedroom apartments, completed since voters approved the spending in 2016. 

An audit recently found 14 per cent of the units built exceeded $700,000 each, and one project in pre-development is estimated to cost almost $837,000 per unit.

It is not clear if Caruso, if elected, will pursue such a plan. Caruso currently trails the much more progressive Bass by single digits in most polls.

A tight mayoral race will not be the only thing getting attention on Los Angeles ballots in November, though. 

Measure ULA, dubbed 'the mansion tax,' will also be up for a vote, amid opposition from Los Angeles’ real estate industry and abundance of affluent residents. 

If passed, the measure would add a new tax on L.A. property sales north of $5 million to fund homelessness programs such as Proposition HHH.

If successful, the measure will see property sales in Los Angeles between $5 and $10 million would be subject to a 4 percent tax rate, while those worth $10 million or more would be taxed at an additional rate of 5.5 percent.