The new law will prohibit encampments from 20% of the city
On Aug. 9, the Los Angeles City Council voted 11-3 to ban homeless people from sitting or lying within 500 feet of schools or daycares within the city. Council members Mike Bonin, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Nithya Raman voted against the motion.
The council’s vote expanded section 41.18 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, which already allowed the city to ban homeless people from within 500 to 1,000 feet of certain places, such as schools, overpasses or homeless shelters. However, previously each site needed majority board approval before the homeless could be banned, and it required several steps, such as outreach and signs.
Not only does the council’s expansion of 41.18 not require any more signs, it will cover about 20% of the city, according to a map released by Kenneth Mejia, a candidate for city controller.
A large group of protestors came to city hall on the day of the vote, and one was arrested after jumping over the barrier and seemingly going towards the council members. Before this, multiple public speakers spoke out against the expansion of 41.18. After the police grabbed the protestor who went over the border, many protestors chanted, “We won’t go.” Council President Nury Martinez declared a recess, and by the time the council came back, the Los Angeles Police Department had declared the protestors an unlawful assembly. The room was clear, and the council took no more public comment.
“We believe that the majority of Angelenos do not support a policy like this,” said Robin Peterson, a member of Services Not Sweeps, who was present at the meeting. “As much as people are outspoken and want to say that criminalization and arresting homelessness is important for the city, we know that it’s actually an ineffective, expensive and of course inhumane policy.”
On May 31, Alberto M. Carvalho, the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District appeared before the city council in support of 41.18.
“I think there is a balance to be struck between compassionate actions towards the unhoused and homeless in our community, but also balancing that out against the protective measures we must take to ensure that students have a safe passage that’s undisturbed, a clean passage, to schools,” Carvalho said.
Councilman Joe Buscaino said he has heard support for the motion from many schools in Council District 15. His wife, Geralyn, is a teacher in LAUSD.
“This is an issue of restoring order and safety among our most precious sites in the City of Los Angeles, our school sites,” Buscaino said. “Our students are already traumatized with socioeconomic issues. Let alone they should not be exposed to sex acts, they should not be exposed to open drug use, they should not be exposed to psychotic behavior that’s taking place next to our school yards.”
Buscaino, a former LAPD officer, has already tried to have the homeless banned from hundreds of sites within CD 15. He claimed that 41.18 has saved lives in his district, but did not provide any details as to how.
“This will pass,” Buscaino said. “It is now up to us to hold the people in this building accountable for enforcing 41.18 at our school sites.”
However, Peterson said the city is not capable of enforcing anti-camping laws at the sites that already have signage. She said she passes by a large encampment with a 41.18 sign on her way to work every day.
“What they’re doing is kind of a false promise about the rhetoric that they’re sharing, that this will take folks off the streets … provide safety, all that stuff is really just pomp and circumstance honestly,” Peterson said. “What it will do and what this does allow, is it allows the city council and LAPD to enforce sites and arrest people who are unhoused when they feel like it.”
Peterson said that if someone calls a council member’s office and says they are not happy with a homeless person near them, then the council member can have the police move that person. She pointed out that since this version of the law does not have signs, it can be difficult for people to know if they are within the boundary.
Councilman Mike Bonin complained about the lack of a map detailing which areas would be off-limits.
“We have not done any study of how comprehensive and how impactful this will be,” Bonin said. “We don’t have a list of the daycare centers that will be impacted, or of the independent or private schools.”
Bonin said the motion would open the city to lawsuits.
“Every time we discuss this issue, it is a waste of time and energy and attention,” Bonin said. “And by approving this ordinance, you are guaranteeing you are going to be back into conversations over lawsuits and settlements and what the city can and cannot do. And that is what the time and money and energy and the focus will be. And you are going to be discussing 41.18 like a nightmare Groundhog Day for years and years to come.”
Peterson said that Project Roomkey, a county program designed to house homeless people in hotel rooms, is coming to an end because funding is drying up, which means that more people will be on the street.
“Our eviction moratorium is ending at some point soon,” Peterson said. “That’s been one of the biggest causes of homelessness every year.”
Peterson said that Services Not Sweeps has called the council offices and tried to convince them to change their minds.
“Our coalition has sent thousands of emails to city council members,” Peterson said. “We ask for meetings, and we ask for conversations all the time.”
Council President Martinez compared the protestor who jumped over the barrier to the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. In a press release about previous disruptions by protestors, Councilman Paul Koretz described them as “anti-democratic anarchists.”
This was clearly an exaggeration by Martinez, as all of the protestors who entered the council chambers had to be screened and checked for weapons. No one broke into the council; they were let in and spoke at the very limited public comment on the agenda.
Peterson said her coalition has tried to set up meetings with Martinez multiple times with no response.
“They complain about us coming down and being angry,” Peterson said. “But I think we have a right to be angry.”