A large homeless encampment on the banks of the landmark Echo Park Lake has emerged as a flashpoint in Los Angeles’ crisis of how to treat the unhoused.

Over the last year, the encampment has evolved into a commune-like society with a shared pantry, a garden, a veneer of self-policing and a tenuous grasp on basic sanitation. It has divided the Echo Park community and became a case study of the conflicts arising in neighborhoods across Los Angeles over the rights to public spaces and the competing interests of the housed and unhoused.