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A California city has voted to clear and ban homeless tents as several have flooded sidewalks in the area.
Culver City officials voted 3-2 Monday for tent bars and other structures, when more homeless housing models become available, including a Project Room Key site and a designated homeless area in the Virginia Parking Lot.
Culver City Councilman Dan O’Brien said officials needed to act quickly as neighboring Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass pledged last year to provide housing for more than 17,000 people without home in its first year through a mix of temporary and permanent installations. .
‘A fear of mine is that if we don’t have all the tools to help our own homeless and Los Angeles already has the app along our borders, then those who turn down housing will just walk across the street to Culver City, and then will continue to drain our resources,’ O’Brien said Los Angeles Times.
The ordinance, which does not have an effective date, allows homeless people to remain on the streets with only sleeping bags and blankets. Culver City is one of the 88 cities in Los Angeles County.
Culver City officials voted 3-2 Monday to have tents and other structures begin when more housing models become available for the homeless. Pictured: homeless man Roscoe Billy Ray Bradley Jr.
The ordinance, which does not have an effective date, allows homeless people to remain on the streets with only sleeping bags and blankets.
Culver City’s new law aims to get more people off the street, especially those who need an extra push.
When the ordinance goes into effect, residents will be able to call the police if they refuse to go into the city’s many housing options, according to O’Brien.
“The hope on our part is that this ordinance helps give them that little extra push to accept the housing and services that we are offering,” he told the news outlet.
Culver City Councilman Dan O’Brien said officials needed to take action quickly before the streets were further flooded with tents.
Opposition officials argued that the ordinance would displace homeless people who prefer to live outdoors.
“I am very disappointed,” said Councilor Yasmin-Imani McMorrin nbc news. “I feel like this is an incredibly damaging policy that adds nothing but punitive measures.”
A homeless man, who has lived on the streets for nearly a decade, also expressed disappointment, arguing that he will not move easily.
“They can’t take my store,” Roscoe Billy Ray Bradley Jr. told the news outlet. That is my personal property. I do not go anywhere.’
Bradley Jr. was seen in photos obtained by the news outlet standing near his tent after sweeping around.
While Councilman O’Brien wanted to prevent the city of Los Angeles’ homeless population from moving into the neighborhood, some have already settled.
Walter Lindsey recently moved to a Culver City sidewalk after ditching Los Angeles County’s huge homeless population on Skid Row.
Lindsey told the news outlet that she prefers Culver City to downtown Los Angeles, but doesn’t plan on getting too comfortable.
“I guess I have to get ready,” Lindsey said in response to learning about the ordinance.
The ordinance will go into effect when about 100 beds become available through various programs around the city.
Councilwoman Yasmin-Imani McMorrin expressed her disappointment at the decision.
When the ordinance goes into effect, residents will be able to call the police if they refuse to go into the city’s many housing options.
A homeless woman was seen sitting under the 405 Freeway bridge over Venice Bouldevard in Culver City.
A row of tents was seen under the 405 Freeway in Culver City as several prepared to ditch their tents or move elsewhere.
As the homelessness crisis worsens, Los Angeles Mayor Bass declared a state of emergency less than 24 hours after taking office last year.
At the time, Bass said that “using the emergency order is our ability to speed things up.”
He also added: “My mandate is to move Los Angeles in a new direction with an urgent and strategic approach to solving one of our city’s most difficult challenges and creating a brighter future for all Angelenos.”
Bass plans to build about 3,000 new units and allocate funds to buy motels and apartments for the homeless and veterans. She it will also seek to lease entire buildings to house the homeless.
The declaration, which is scheduled to last for six months, allows Bass to take more aggressive executive action to deal with the crisis, though the City Council will have to approve it every 30 days.
In total, there are about 100,000 homeless people in California. With other high concentrations in the northern part of the state in cities like San Francisco where almost 8,000 people sleep on the streets.
Homelessness is highly visible throughout California with people living in tents and cars and sleeping out in the open on sidewalks and under freeway overpasses.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass committed last year to housing more than 17,000 homeless people in her first year through a mix of temporary and permanent facilities. She declared a state of emergency on her first day in office.