Nearly two years ago, the Los Angeles City Council passed a controversial ordinance that banned camping by the homeless near schools, daycare centers and parks, as well as other locations that council members wanted banned. All they had to do was submit a resolution with a list of sites, give an unnamed reason for the ban, and put it to a council vote, which almost always passed. Signs would then be posted indicating the prohibited areas.
As we said when the city passed the anti-camping law called 41.18 for the municipal code section, chasing people off a sidewalk doesn’t solve homelessness. All it does is move people to another sidewalk. And don’t forget that there were about 42,000 homeless people in the city at the official 2022 census.
Along with the anti-camping law, the city council passed a street engagement strategy, telling people not to leave an area until they were offered some sort of temporary housing, ranging from a bed in a group shelter to a Motel Room.
Last week, City Council President Paul Krekorian added five more locations to the list of 41.18 locations and new Westside Council District 11 representative Traci Park added a dozen locations. All were approved, but without the support of four councilors – Nithya Raman and Marqueece Harris-Dawson and newly elected members Katy Yaroslavsky and Hugo Soto-Martinez.
Yaroslavsky, who represents District 5 of the Council, went further and cleverly suggested that the city analyze what the anti-camping law has accomplished. One of her questions: What kind of housing – temporary or permanent – have people been given? Do people accept? How many people are still housed today? What are their demographics (race, gender, mental illness or substance use problems)? And how many tickets have been issued by the LA Police Department when people refuse to leave a designated area?
These are all questions worth asking (even though some may be hard to answer), and good for Yaroslavsky for urging the council to look into whether the ban and street engagement strategy gets people into housing where they stay in.
Another question: How many places are covered by the camping ban? Last May, there were more than 100 locations with anti-camping signs, according to a Times report. Yaroslavsky says there are an estimated 2,000 locations, including those near every school and daycare center in the city. And in many places, people continue to camp.
City officials said only two tickets had been issued in the first four months of 2022 for refusing to leave a campground. (Honestly, there shouldn’t be any tickets issued that he or she can’t pay.)
As Yaroslavsky points out, there aren’t enough police to patrol every camping spot. The law shouldn’t be about that. The only way to make the law and street strategy effective is to have a credible housing supply, said Yaroslavsky, who took office in December after former councilman Paul Koretz was fired.
In the San Fernando Valley neighborhood, where Krekorian just added more camping spots, everyone is offered a shelter bed or a spot in a “tiny home” village. But according to an aide in Krekorian’s office, no one has been arrested or charged with refusing to move.
More promising is Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe initiative, which goes camp by camp, offering people temporary motel or hotel rooms, followed by permanent housing. Bass has said none of the encampment’s moves will be forced and no one will be spoken to or jailed for refusing to leave. In the two months since Bass launched Inside Safe, 356 people from nine encampments have been housed. About 20 have been given permanent housing, according to Va Lecia Adams Kellum, the new CEO of the LA Homeless Services Authority, who partnered with Bass to launch Inside Safe.
Los Angeles now has about two years of experience demonstrating whether the anti-camping law and street strategy is getting people off the sidewalks into homes. It’s good to pause and take stock.
