The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to help a movement affirming that its jails received’t be used to carry homeless individuals arrested within the enforcement of anticamping ordinances.
“We’re not going to go to a race to the bottom,” stated Supervisor Hilda Solis, the movement’s co-author. “We’re not going to turn our backs. We’re not going to use our jails to somehow incarcerate and criminalize people who are on the street.”
Co-author Supervisor Lindsey Horvath barely amended the unique movement to make clear that it’s meant to deal with how the county handles arrests “solely due to enforcement of anticamping ordinances,” per the county’s present apply.
Somebody who’s endangering public security or committing different crimes at an encampment may nonetheless be arrested and jailed, she stated.
“We aren’t saying that if there’s violent crime happening at a homeless encampment that that is not an arrestable offense,” Horvath stated. “We aren’t saying anything like that at all. In fact, what we’re being clear about is that we are not criminalizing poverty or homelessness.”
An individual sleeps on their belongings on the seashore in Venice earlier this month.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Occasions)
Through the assembly Tuesday, which additionally included a broader dialogue on the impression of the Grants Cross ruling on the county, native officers repeatedly stated they didn’t imagine that arresting and jailing homeless residents for residing in encampments would result in a discount in homelessness.
“Criminalization is intentionally not part of the county’s framework because it makes the problem worse by creating more barriers along people’s path to housing,” stated Va Lecia Adams Kellum, chief government of the Los Angeles Homeless Companies Authority.
Sheriff Robert Luna stated the movement is according to the division’s present strategy, by which misdemeanors don’t sometimes result in jailing until particular standards are met.
“Being homeless is not a crime, and we will maintain our focus on criminal behavior rather than an individual’s status,” Luna stated.
A number of pubic audio system expressed help for the movement and for the county’s broader “care first” strategy to homelessness.
“Being homeless should not be a crime,” stated West Covina Mayor Brian Calderón Tabatabai. “All of us must be clear that we all have a responsibility to provide shelter to our unhoused residents.”
However some additionally expressed frustration with the tempo of the county’s efforts to maneuver individuals out of encampments and into momentary housing and stated that native communities want extra assets to deal with the housing disaster.
“Clearly no one is advocating that our unhoused community members be housed in the county jail. However, cities are overwhelmed with homelessness needs and the proliferation of encampments in their communities,” stated Bea Dieringer, president of the Los Angeles County Division of the League of California Cities. “They desperately need the county’s help to increase homeless shelters, services and other resources to meet their urgent community needs.”
The county this yr has dedicated greater than $120 million to its Pathway Dwelling program, its counterpart to Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Protected housing and encampment cleanup program.
Supervisors and a number of other audio system additionally expressed concern that the governor’s order and the Supreme Courtroom’s choice may result in a difficult mishmash of insurance policies throughout the county’s 88 cities and unincorporated communities by which some cities find yourself pushing homeless residents into neighboring communities.
The movement additionally directs the county to assist lead a convening of cities “with the goal of minimizing disparate impact of the Grants Pass ruling across all the jurisdictions in the County.”
“We don’t want L.A. County to be seen as rolling out the welcome mat for the nation’s unhoused population to come to Los Angeles,” Horvath stated, “and there’s also concern that we don’t want to diverge from the path we have seen that works.”
