The Los Angeles City Council on April 11 approved two measures to address the burgeoning homelessness crisis – an initiative to make it easier for motels to be converted into housing and the Permanent Supportive Housing Ordinance, a measure that will enable housing developments to be approved in less than one year using a streamlined planning process. Mayor Eric Garcetti plans to sign the motel conversion ordinance and the Permanent Supportive Housing Ordinance into law today.

The initiatives are new approaches city officials believe will get people off the streets and into housing. That effort can be challenging as evidenced by an encampment on Poinsettia Place between Willoughby Avenue and Romaine Street. The encampment was removed by the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation on April 4, but as soon as crews left, homeless individuals returned and began putting up tents again.

Tents and makeshift shelters returned on Poinsettia Place shortly after the city removed debris and cleaned the sidewalk on April 4. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Two of the key issues facing city leaders is a lack of locations to house individuals and places where their belongings can be stored while services to get people off the streets are provided. The encampment has also frustrated some residents who believe the city is not doing enough to address crime in the neighborhood such as burglaries, thefts, vehicle break-ins, drug use and trespassing, some of which is caused by homeless individuals. Officials throughout the city are grappling with solutions including Councilman Paul Koretz, 5th District, whose staff has attended multiple meetings at nearby Poinsettia Park to keep residents informed about plans.

“Homelessness continues to be a major issue that is of tremendous concern for me and my staff,” Koretz said in a statement. “We are working on all fronts to implement Measures H and HHH, but it’s impossible for those measures to instantly solve the problems associated with homelessness because they established funding streams which are spread out over 10 years and we’re just in the first year of being able to access any of that money. Also, common sense tells us that you don’t build housing overnight. The first HHH projects are just underway now, but we don’t expect them to be open until late 2019 at the earliest. That means a lot of people will still be sleeping outside, in cars and in the existing, inadequate network of shelters and housing.”

City officials stress that being homeless is not a crime and law enforcement has limited resources in addressing encampments and tents. Under a settlement in a 2007 lawsuit against the city filed by the ACLU, the city allows tents to be on public property at night, but they must be taken down during the day. Police regularly stop at the encampment on Poinsettia Place and ask people to take tents down during the day. If the tents are not taken down, individuals can be cited and their property can be confiscated after 72 hours.

The LAPD also has an outreach team with social workers that regularly contacts homeless individuals in an attempt to link them with services. Officers check people for warrants and make arrests when appropriate, but there is often little police can do if they do not observe people at encampments committing crimes.

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer agreed that the city has limited resources and methods to address homelessness, but that does not mean he and other city officials are not trying new approaches. Feuer said he believes tents should be taken down during the day because of safety risks and other factors. He also regularly holds clinics for homeless and low-income individuals who have been cited that brings them into a process by which they can have citations dismissed if they accept services that lead to housing and permanent solutions.

Feuer said he supports the initiative to make it easier for motels to be converted into housing. He hopes to continue taking the lead in finding innovative ways to address the issues, including an effort to find locations in each council district where people could be temporarily housed until permanent units are built. Garcetti is expected to announce more funding for that effort when the city budget is released.

“I have made addressing homelessness a top priority here,” Feuer said. “Every city council district needs safe housing, safe places to park and transitional bridge housing.”

Garcetti is also working on other ways to address homelessness. He was in Sacramento on April 11 with the mayors of California’s 11 largest cities to lobby for AB 3171, legislation that would allocate $1.5 billion from the state budget for services to reduce homelessness including permanent housing and rental assistance. The bill by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) and state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) is scheduled to be first heard by the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee on April 25.

“Cities are on the front lines in the fight against homelessness and Los Angeles is already investing billions of dollars to get people off the streets,” Garcetti said in a statement. “But we can’t do it alone. AB 3171 would give us the state funding we need to get all of our unsheltered into homes as soon as possible.”

While the city addresses homelessness on a regional level, some in the community near Poinsettia Park hope the efforts will provide relief in local neighborhoods. While most are sympathetic about the plight of homeless individuals, they don’t want their quality of life affected by crime, said Peter Nichols, co-founder of the Melrose Action Neighborhood Watch. The organization hosted a public meeting at the park on homelessness in March and plans to hold another on April 18 for members of the neighborhood watch only. Nichols also commended the LAPD for trying to address crimes committed by homeless individuals but conceded it will take a lot more effort on many levels.

“This isn’t limited to tents. This problem existed before the tents were ever there,” Nichols said. “It remains very challenging.”