Some L.A. County Officials Oppose Gov. Newsom’s Homeless Encampment Order

In a series of statements on Tuesday, several Los Angeles County officials said that they continue to be opposed to removing homeless encampments en masse, putting them at odds with the Los Angeles City Council and Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent executive order calling for a statewide takedown of homeless encampments.

For the last several years, action against homeless encampments with Los Angeles and Los Angeles County have been something of a hot button issue. However, the first major move against encampments came in July 2021, when the L.A. City Council nearly unanimously passed an ordinance banning lying, sitting, sleeping, and storing personal property on public land that blocks sidewalks, streets, and bike lanes, driveways, freeway overpasses, and on-ramps. Homeless encampments were also not allowed within 500 feet of a “sensitive facility” such daycare centers, driveways, fire hydrants, homeless shelters, libraries, schools, libraries, and parks.

Despite this, the situation was often up in the air, as many lawsuits and homeless advocate battles sprouted up. Nonetheless, the encampment ordinance proved popular with Angelinos, with similar bans, such as ones in San Diego, sprouting up as a result. However, the largest such advance in banning encampments was only recently, with the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling giving the greenlight to states to enact such a ban. San Francisco, a longtime holdout, finally began a major crackdown on encampments, and just last week, Newsom gave a state level executive order on encampment removals.

However, at a county level, some are still trying to fight back despite an overwhelming number of residents and lawmakers being in support of taking down encampments. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors came out against the encampment bans, saying that the homeless shouldn’t be criminalized for encampments, and that a homelessness should be a care first situation.

“My position has and continues to be that I do not believe the criminalization of homelessness is the right path,” said County Supervisor Kathryn Barger on Tuesday. “Quite frankly, I find it almost ludicrous to think that we’re going to issue $250 tickets to individuals who are unhoused who are then going to get another ticket and another ticket and then have a warrant out for their arrest and for what?

“This is about our capacity to house and deliver a well-orchestrated strategy with several ingredients: sustaining outreach work, building trust, and delivering coordinated social services. I want to be clear: enforcement is certainly an important tool, but it needs to be applied strategically and in a way that sustains permanent change. Enforcement will remain a last resort to maintain public safety and public health. Some believe our work to resolve homeless encampments isn’t happening fast enough, but fast doesn’t always mean successful.”

Encampment Bans

Other Supervisors, as well as L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna, raised similar concerns, as well as a need to focus on criminal behavior. While the County is opposed to the executive order, it cannot stop cities from enacting their own laws in accordance to the new state parameters. For L.A. County, most cities either have encampment ordinances up, or are currently planning legislation to remove encampments.

“As long as Grants Pass holds and the public wants them gone, we will be seeing a lot less homeless encampments,” explained Los Angeles homeless shelter coordinator Harmony Rodriguez to the Globe on Wednesday. “A lot of that burden will be on us to shelter them, but honestly, they’ll just keep going to find a place where they won’t be bothered.

“That’s been the dance for the last few decades. Homeless begin congregating in one area, police come down for a sweep, everyone scatters, and the cycles renews. The state thing that just passed is a game changer, because it is a lot more relentless and a lot more charged. They are going to get harassed often. So what we will see is more shelter space gone, more people trying out the RV or camper method, people leaving cities for other places that didn’t pass encampment laws, or leaving the state altogether.

“Oh, and it will get worse for them. The cities that don’t pass laws like this are going to be flooded with homeless people, so then they’ll pass laws banning encampments. It’s going to be a little arms race, and homeless people will be stuck in the middle. Honestly, many will likely leave California if every city passes these laws. It’s almost as if that is an unstated goal.”

More lawmakers are expected to announce where they stand on encampments in the coming weeks.