The Los Angeles City Council this week voted to ban homeless encampments at more than 50 locations.
In a 12-2 vote, the council passed a law prohibiting sitting, lying, sleeping or placing personal property at 54 locations which span across three districts. It also bars camping within 500 feet of schools, day care facilities, parks and libraries.
City officials may spend up to $2 million erecting signs detailing the law in each of the locations and once they are up, homeless outreach teams will spend 14 days continuing “to engage anyone remaining on the site,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
The new law comes as local leaders have been dealing with public concern over the need for more permanent housing and other resources to address the uptick in homeless encampments that popped up during the pandemic.
The city’s most recent statistics show 63,706 homeless people were counted in 2020, which is a nearly 13% increase from the 56,257 counted in 2019. Officials decided not to conduct a count this year due to the pandemic.
