Homeless encampments in an industrial area of Chatsworth have become an increasing burden on the business community. The encampments became a problem in recent months, and with them, industrial businesses saw an increase in crime and sanitation issues. After the local government ignored individual complaints, Scott Caswell, a principal at Lee & Associates, circulated a petition to unite the ownership. The petition received more than 600 signatures and the local government has responded to the problem. We sat down with Caswell for an exclusive interview to talk about the homeless problem and the community responses.

GlobeSt.com: Tell me about the homeless encampment problem in the industrial area of Chatsworth.

Scott Caswell: The councilmen of Los Angeles tried to rid residential and school areas of homeless encampments, and their vote was to redirect that to industrial and commercial arenas. That opened a giant door for homeless parties with RVs to relocate up to the West San Fernando Valley. In a matter of months, we saw a huge surge of RVS camping on every single street, one after another. Along with that came a surge of crime, refuge in the street, tenant sprawl into surrounding properties. It was impacting the local ownership. Industrial arenas don't have the accommodations to facilitate RV dwellings. They weren't zoned for it for a reason, because they don't have public bathrooms or places for refuse collection. I feel sorry for the homeless because they were put into a space where there was no choice to sprawl out onto the streets and release sewage onto the streets. It is a double edge sword.