Lengthy Seaside will start citing and presumably arresting homeless individuals as a part of the town’s effort to crack down on its most problematic encampments.
These actions might be used as a final resort to take away encampments recognized to be “troublesome spots,” Lengthy Seaside Deputy Metropolis Supervisor Teresa Chandler introduced in a memo this week.
“This enforcement mechanism might be used as a further software when applicable,” Chandler mentioned, “whereas persevering with to use a human-centered strategy to addressing homelessness.”
Metropolis officers mentioned the plan is to determine encampments that pose a public menace or block entry to libraries, parks and seashores. It is going to additionally goal homeless camps the place individuals have repeatedly declined to just accept service or shelter.
There have been 3,376 individuals experiencing homelessness tallied within the metropolis’s newest homeless depend — down 2.1% from 3,447 in 2023. Not less than 70% of the inhabitants lives outdoor.
Within the final 12 months, public works groups have responded to three,200 encampments in Lengthy Seaside, in line with the memo. However it didn’t disclose the price of the citations or what the size of jail time can be for individuals who accumulate citations.
Chandler didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Nonetheless, the town plans to point out restraint.
“Enforcement of the town’s anti-camping ordinance by issuing of a misdemeanor quotation will typically be utilized after a number of makes an attempt of outreach and on the workforce’s discretion, as applicable,” the memo mentioned.
The town’s crackdown comes greater than a month after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an government order directing state businesses to clear encampments from state property and urging counties and cities to do the identical.
It’s all the results of the Supreme Court docket ruling in June that mentioned counties and cities can implement legal guidelines limiting homeless individuals from sleeping or tenting in public areas, even when there isn’t sufficient shelter accessible.
The ruling was thought-about a win by the leaders of many cities within the West, the place a majority of the nation’s unhoused individuals dwell. However for homeless advocates, it was a devastating blow after rulings by the ninth Circuit Court docket of Appeals that held it was unconstitutional to implement anti-camping legal guidelines in opposition to individuals who had no house and nowhere to sleep.
Advocates feared that the enforcement of anti-camping ordinances would solely result in fines and arrests and make it harder to deal with homelessness.
Lengthy Seaside officers acknowledge that enforcement of its anti-camping legal guidelines will most likely have some unlucky penalties.
“Fines related to citations can have destabilizing results on people who find themselves already extraordinarily low-income,” the memo mentioned. “The expertise of receiving fines and compelled motion might end in materials and psychological hurt, misplaced belongings corresponding to documentation, exacerbated psychological and bodily well being problems and different trauma.”
Metropolis officers mentioned the enforcement may trigger individuals to maneuver to different components of the town or to neighboring cities. It is going to additionally create extra challenges for outreach groups that depend on sustaining connections with unhoused individuals.
Nonetheless, metropolis officers say they’re doing every part they’ll to strategy the scenario as humanely as potential, together with having constructed a brand new homeless shelter and extra housing models.
The memo calls on the town to spice up funding for motel vouchers and everlasting housing to offer individuals a route out of the shelter system, in addition to to extend staffing on the Homeless Companies Bureau and different departments that work with homeless inhabitants.
“You will need to do not forget that this strategy builds upon a robust basis of present work,” the memo mentioned, “and that the town’s capability to deal with homelessness has grown dramatically over the previous few years.”
The town plans to assessment the effectiveness and impression of its enforcement efforts in six months.
