Culver City Is About To Open Its First-Ever ‘Safe Sleep’ Site For Unhoused People

In the coming days, Culver City plans to open the city’s first-ever “safe sleep” site, where unhoused residents can live in tents and access meals, showers, restrooms and health services.

The location will have 20 tents, each sleeping one or two people depending on whether they’re family members, Mayor Albert Vera told LAist.

Momentum around the idea sped up after L.A. Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency around homelessness in December — prompting Culver City to do the same, he said.

“We locked arms with the city of L.A. and declared a state of emergency, and in doing so we were able to fast track some of these projects … and one of them was the safe sleep site,” Vera said.

Among the amenities are a laundry service, WiFi, mental health services, yoga and meditation, arts and crafts and even gardening to help people re-establish self respect and dignity, said Tevis Barnes, the city’s housing and human services director.

A handful of move-ins to start next week

Starting next week, officials say they hope to move about four or five people in at a time. Outreach workers with St. Joseph Center have developed a list of unhoused people interested in living at the safe sleep site, which will be used to offer up the beds, Barnes said.

The safe sleep site is a step in the right direction — and in a good location close to amenities like a grocery store — though the city’s housing needs are much larger, said Cathy Sweetser, a Culver City homeowner who lives near the site and directs the UCLA School of Law’s Promise Institute for Human Rights.

An estimated 312 people lived unsheltered in Culver City as of the latest available data, from last year.

“Although it’s really laudable that Culver City has done this to house 20 people, it’s not going to address the magnitude of the problem that we’re seeing,” Sweetser told LAist.

Anti-camping law passed in February

Opening the safe sleep site is one of two requirements the city’s council put in place in order to enforce their new anti-camping law, which passed on a split 3-to-2 vote in February. It prohibits people from setting up tents, temporary shelters or beds in public spaces.

City officials say they’ll offer people housing and services before doing any enforcement of the anti-camping law.

“We always lead with care first. So we will establish a relationship with that person, and we will get them the services and the housing that meets their needs before the city takes any action of any kind,” Barnes said.

The safe sleeping tents don’t have air conditioning, but do have windows on the sides to allow for ventilation to keep people cool. And there are blankets and temperature-rated sleeping bags for cold weather, according to city officials.

The tents aren’t regular camping tents, Barnes noted, but rather a larger type of tent that might be found at a summer camp.

Site rules

Residents at the location will sign a code of conduct that they’ll be a good neighbor, and will be able to come and go as they please, Barnes added. For safety reasons, she said, residents have to sign in and out when they enter and leave, and only residents, staff and vendors can enter the safe sleep site.

The site will be run by the nonprofit group Urban Alchemy, which manages similar sites in San Francisco and Portland.

Mostly surrounded by the city of L.A., Culver City has in the past been accused of pushing unhoused people into L.A. More recently, Culver City Councilmember Dan O’Brien has expressed concern that unhoused people will be pushed into Culver City as a result of L.A.’s stepped-up enforcement efforts.

While permanent housing is the ultimate goal for many shelter programs, it’s in short supply in the L.A. area.

Less than 10% of people in L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe motel program have been able to move into permanent housing, according to numbers provided to the city council earlier this month.