Should LA County jail unhoused people for camping in public? Leaders to discuss

Los Angeles County supervisors are scheduled to vote Tuesday on a measure that would try to reduce the local impact of a monumental U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The court's ruling on the Grants Pass case allows officials to cite and arrest unhoused people for sleeping or camping in public when no shelter is available.

Gov. Gavin Newsom pointed to the ruling just last week in calling on cities and counties to urgently clear encampments, saying there’s now “no excuses.”

Some of L.A.’s top leaders are sounding a much different tone.

As several cities across the region consider stepping up enforcement, L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who chairs the board, and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass have expressed concern that the Grants Pass ruling could lead to a criminalization of homelessness that pushes people from city to city.

A motion up for approval Tuesday by supervisors, if approved, would set the county on a distinctly different path.

What the proposed motion says

The motion calls for expanding shelter efforts and aligning with city leaders in the county to try to “minimize disparate impacts” from the ruling. In otherwords, it proposes a unified, countywide strategy.

It also asks L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna to clarify that county jails “will not be used to hold people arrested due to enforcement of anti-camping ordinances.”

“Arresting people for sitting, sleeping, or lying on the sidewalk or in public spaces does not end their homelessness, and will only make their homelessness harder to resolve with a criminal record and fines they can’t afford to pay,” states the motion, introduced by Horvath and fellow Supervisor Hilda Solis.

“Moving people from one community to another does not resolve their homelessness. Our homelessness and housing crisis is regional, and will only be solved with a coordinated, unified response, and resources for housing and services.”

[Click here to read the motion.]

What to expect at the meeting

The public discussion is expected to include verbal reports from Luna, top homelessness officials and the county’s top attorney on how the Grants Pass decision could affect L.A. County.

City leaders across the county, including several L.A. City Council members, have been evaluating their enforcement strategy in the wake of the court ruling.

Others say the Supreme Court has untied their hands from clearing dangerous encampments, and have announced plans to step up clearings.

“I’m warming up the bulldozer,” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said after the Supreme Court ruling.

Parris had also recently told LAist that Lancaster city officials are “going to start issuing gun permits at a rapid rate with priority for women” in response to sharply rising numbers of unhoused people in the area.

How to attend the meeting

Location: Kenneth Hahn Hall Of Administration, 500 West Temple Street, Los Angeles
Time: Agenda item is set for 10 a.m.
Watch remotely: Live board meetings
How to make a public comment:

• Call: (877) 226-8163 and use participant code: 1336503
• Submit a comment online (Note: Recommendation to ensure review was to submit by 4 p.m. Monday)

Learn the jargon: Closed session, consent calendars and more! We have definitions for commonly used terms here.

How to give public comment: Every public meeting allows community members to give comment, whether or not it’s about something on the agenda. The meeting agenda will have specific instructions for giving public comment. Review more details here.