Homeless LA man vows to rebuild viral treehouse after city tore it down

LOS ANGELES — He just wanted to live in the trees, but Los Angeles brought him down to earth.

Officials have dismantled a homeless man’s three-story treehouse after the lux hobo hideaway went viral on TikTok last month, garnering tens of thousands of likes.

About a week ago, the city finally gave the makeshift penthouse the ax and tore it down.

But the homeless man – who built the house from scavenged materials near an encampment in South Central LA – has already started building Tree Mansion 2.0.

“It was gonna happen eventually. I knew they were gonna take it,” the man, who goes by Erick, told The Post on Monday.

Erick, 34, spoke from a roofless canvas hut at ground level — all that remains of the original house, which had a mezzanine, an enclosed bedroom, and even a zipline for quick exits.

He said tourists who had seen the videos on social media would come by to gawk at his Swiss Hobo Robinson dwelling.

He was undeterred when the city showed up roughly to remove it along with the trailers and tents of the surrounding homeless encampment.

LA has been waging an ongoing war against homeless camps across the city, which escalated in May after Gov. Gavin Newsom told cities across the state to make them illegal.

But the tale of Erick’s treehouse shows that these colonies can often crop back up after they’re cleared out — especially if the residents aren’t interested in going into housing.

Erick has already tied the support beams and floorboards for his new second house, which he says will feature a trampoline net, a fire pole, and camouflaged walls to help it blend in.

“I want to make an eject-o seat, you know a chair that goes backward through the wall like this,” Erick said, miming how the secret escape hatch would function.

This will be the fourth treehouse he’s built since he started living on the streets around ten years ago.

The lofts protect him from the nighttime thefts, muggings and random violence that threaten the people living in sprawling shantytowns and streetside encampments throughout the LA area, he said.

But mostly, he just likes treehouses.

“I built this because I was bored. … I just like building them,” Erick said.

Maria Alvarado, who lives in a nearby townhouse, doesn’t mind Erick living in the tree.

The mother of two said the tents and rusted trailers that make up the encampment can be a problem; they leave trash and drug needles on the street. The city occasionally clears them out, but they always come back.

Alvarado gives Erick a pass: “He isn’t bothering anybody. He’s just there in his tree. You pass and he’s never been disrespectful. He’s always in his own little world.”

Others aren’t so sympathetic.

One local business owner said the throngs of vagrants harass his clients and steal from his property, and Erick is no exception.

“They stole two of my gate openers worth $8,000 each. I looked at the camera footage, and that’s the guy who did it,” said the man, gesturing towards Erick’s tree.

Erick claimed he doesn’t steal things; he said he gets his money from collecting and selling recyclables. 

But he also has no interest in trying to get off the streets, preferring the treetops to city shelters — which he said are squalid and unsafe.

“I’m not doing this to make it hard for [the city.] I’m going to be a burden no matter what. This just works for me. You gotta do whatever you do because it works for you,” he said. 

In May, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom offered plum incentives to cities that enforce bans on street encampments – part of a broader push to clean out the notorious tent cities.

Mayor Karen Bass has pushed back against state pressure, arguing that the city is doing plenty to fight homelessness. She also recently pointed out that homelessness rates dropped in 2024 for the first time in years.

But in a recent survey from LAist, two-thirds of respondents believed homelessness has stayed the same or gotten worse, suggesting Mayor Bass is still under pressure to toss the tents.

Erick said he’ll keep building treehouses no matter what.

“This isn’t the first treehouse that’s ever been built. Tarzan built a treehouse when his plane crashed. I’m just bringing it back,” Erick said.