Democrat Rep. Waters tells homeless people to 'go home,' warns journalist during testy exchange

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Rep. Maxine Waters reportedly warned a journalist not to report on a story regarding an event she attended near a homeless encampment in Los Angeles where tensions boiled over amid confusion over Section 8 housing vouchers.

According to a report from the New York Post, Waters was present at a chaotic event where hundreds of homeless people showed up due to inaccurate social media reports that Section 8 housing vouchers were being distributed. 

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) arrives for a House Democratic Caucus meeting to choose leaders for the 116th Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 28, 2018. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

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At one point, when it was clear that staff at the event were being overwhelmed, Waters reportedly said to the crowd, "I want everybody to go home."

That comment reportedly triggered an angry response from the crowd, many of whom were homeless.

"We don’t got no home, that’s why we’re here!" one member of the crowd reportedly said back. "What home we gonna go to?"

Chairwoman Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., listens during a House Financial Services Committee hearing Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Sarah Silbiger/Pool via AP) ((Sarah Silbiger/Pool via AP))

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Watters then grew frustrated and said, "Excuse me, there’s nobody in Washington who works for their people any f— harder than I do. I don’t want to hear this. No, no, no." 

When a Los Angeles Times reporter contact Waters about the event, the congresswoman reportedly tried to dissuade the paper from reporting the story.

"You’ll hurt yourself and the community trying to put this together without background," she told reporter Connor Sheets, according to the Los Angeles Times. "I don’t want you to start trying to write it, you won’t understand it."

Video from the scene posted on Twitter by ABC 7 Los Angeles reporter Ashley Mackey shows Waters speaking to concerned citizens at the event saying that Waters was there to "help out."

One homeless disabled woman, Joyce Burnett, told the Los Angeles Times that she was having difficulty getting the answers she needed. 

A view of a homeless encampment on Skid Row on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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"Maxine Waters was here, and she said to come back Tuesday with our paperwork filled out," Burnett said. "I have it, everything they asked for. But every time we get near the front of the line, they shut the door. They opened the door about 20 minutes ago and said they’re not servicing anyone else today." 

Waters’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.