Steve Hilton walked through MacArthur Park and its surrounding alleys on Tuesday, stepping past discarded needles, drug paraphernalia and homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks of one of Los Angeles’s most troubled public spaces. The Republican candidate for California governor used the visit to target taxpayer-funded nonprofits that distribute clean drug supplies through harm reduction programs, framing the park as proof of a broader state failure on homelessness and addiction.
Video and photographs from the tour showed Hilton walking past a woman sleeping in an alley and speaking to reporters near a person asleep on the sidewalk. As reported by the New York Post, Hilton called the conditions he witnessed “a moral failure” and described the area as a “taxpayer-funded drug market.” He argued that harm reduction programs prolong addiction rather than help people escape it, saying free crack pipes and needles are handed out to drug addicts while nonprofit CEOs make millions of dollars a year.
Hilton said harm reduction programs keep people addicted and that he would end them if elected, according to the same report. He has previously described seeing crack pipes, injection drug use and people folded over on fentanyl in broad daylight in the area, and also discussed homelessness spending.
A Federal Raid About Five Months Before the Visit
Hilton’s tour came after federal and local investigators carried out a drug raid in MacArthur Park and other Southern California locations, leading to the arrests of 18 suspects, according to ABC7. Investigators executed search warrants in MacArthur Park, San Gabriel, Calabasas and South Los Angeles. ABC7 reported that authorities seized 19 kilos of fentanyl they said was destined for the park, while a separate Justice Department account described roughly 18 kilograms of fentanyl recovered at one defendant’s Calabasas residence; the two figures were not reconciled in available reporting.
The Justice Department said a federal criminal complaint charged 25 defendants with possession with intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance in connection with an open-air drug market tied to the park. A nearby business owner told ABC7 that drug dealing had intensified in and around MacArthur Park and that the area had steadily deteriorated.
Mixed Signals in the Homelessness Numbers
Point-in-time counts around the park tell a complicated story. In the Westlake North Neighborhood Council area, the number of tents counted dropped from 41 to 10 over the past year, and total dwellings there — including tents, makeshift shelters and vehicles — fell from 147 to 68, according to The LA Local. But unsheltered homelessness in nearby Westlake South rose from 351 to 598 people, and the MacArthur Park Neighborhood Council area nearly doubled, from 174 to 330 people.
Citywide, unsheltered homelessness increased 7.9%, while the overall unsheltered population rose 3.4%, reversing two consecutive years of declines, the outlet reported. The report also noted that encampment sweeps around MacArthur Park have made tents less visible but may have simply displaced people to other parts of the neighborhood rather than resolved the underlying problem.
An Audit Already Raised Red Flags
Hilton’s comments on homelessness spending come amid findings from an independent review commissioned by a federal judge, which found that city officials could not accurately track homelessness spending after examining $2.4 billion in city funding, according to LAist. Auditors said the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority failed to verify whether invoiced services were actually delivered and could not document the existence of roughly 2,300 housing sites, with 70% of those contracts reporting no expenses the prior year.
Los Angeles is projected to send about $306 million in taxpayer dollars to LAHSA this fiscal year, per the same audit. The findings prompted the city council’s housing and homelessness committee to vote to further explore withdrawing funding from LAHSA altogether. Separately, the City Controller’s homelessness dashboard shows Los Angeles had 41,187 permanent supportive housing units and 18,343 interim housing beds in 2026.
The Park’s Fence Fight and a Town Hall
MacArthur Park itself has become a flashpoint beyond the campaign trail. The city approved $2.3 million to build a fence around the park, with an initial proposal calling for green wrought-iron fencing on both sides and gates at eight existing entry and exit points, according to the Los Angeles Times. The roughly 8-foot fence was expected to begin going up this fall, with decorative additions planned through next spring, though the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission formally opposed the project in an August 17 letter.
A public town hall on the park’s future was scheduled for Tuesday to address safety and accessibility concerns, per LAist. Proposals discussed included perimeter fencing and gates as well as closing the stretch of Wilshire Boulevard that runs through the park.
Long Odds in a Blue State
Hilton is campaigning on steep tax cuts, business deregulation and rolling back many of California’s greenhouse gas reduction rules, according to a profile from CalMatters. He faces Xavier Becerra in the November 3 general election, per the New York Post. Arnold Schwarzenegger left the governor’s office in January 2011.
Los Angeles has not elected a Republican mayor since Richard Riordan won in 1993, and the 15-seat city council currently has no identified Republican members, according to the Post. An online clip that circulated after the park visit drew attention when a homeless man appeared with his pants around his knees while Hilton discussed neighborhood conditions, the outlet noted.
