Homeless May Be Sleepless if Law Passes

One day after Santa Monica passed an ordinance making it illegal to lie or sit in its doorways at night, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry called for a similar law aimed at those who sleep on the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

“This vast crush of homeless persons has exhausted our resources and strained our abilities to effectively manage this problem,” Perry’s motion read. “Yesterday, the city of Santa Monica took some steps to address this issue. We can do no less.”

That was in October. Now Los Angeles stands poised to take up a question that has vexed cities across the nation: Should homeless people be allowed to sleep in public spaces?

The city attorney still must research the issue and present proposed ordinances for the City Council for study and debate. But with what is believed to be the largest homeless population in the nation and Los Angeles’ huge influence in the county, all concerned are watching, hoping to swing the city to their side.

“Sometimes there can be a domino effect, where city after city passes this type of ordinance,” said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.

Indeed, one month after Santa Monica enacted its law, Palmdale passed a similar one.

Foscarinis finds such measures “especially frightening. Then homeless people literally have no place to go. It resembles a kind of banishing of homeless people.”

The debate surrounding such laws -- which levy punishments ranging from tickets to jail -- makes clear the philosophical divide separating opponents and supporters.

Until society can provide housing for all, one side argues, such laws are immoral.

On the other side are those who say that, for the good of public health and safety, people should not live in public spaces. And that cities should not tolerate the lawlessness that can accompany street living.

In downtown Los Angeles, which stands on the brink of historic change, with two major redevelopment plans scheduled, business owners met last month with police and called for a list of measures to clean up the area, including the creation of an anti-camping ordinance.

Such a law would target those who sleep in large tents that block sidewalks, said Tracey Lovejoy, executive director of the Central City East Assn.

“In our area, we have 10 streets where the sidewalk is completely uninhabitable for someone to walk down,” she said.

The tents also provide cover for drug dealing and prostitution, Lovejoy said. Allowing such tents is an example of a double standard in dealing with skid row, she said: The city permits activities there that it would never allow elsewhere.

“Why is it OK on Gladys and 4th and not in Brentwood? Why is it OK here and not anywhere else in the city?” Lovejoy asked

Perry said the goal of her motion is to disperse homeless people, “especially women and children,” from skid row to other areas of the city.

Those against her idea say their opposition is rooted in simple math: The number of homeless people is greater than the number of beds in the city.

“I could probably bring 100 more people a day into my facility if I had the capacity,” said Larry Adamson, president and CEO of the Midnight Mission. “We turn away people every day because we’re full.”

According to estimates by experts, there are only 42,200 shelter beds to accommodate 74,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County.

Those numbers do not move Perry.

“I don’t know what that means,” Perry said. “I’ve been hearing that for years. I’m not even sure if that’s accurate.”

Activists such as Pete White say the numbers are solid and can be seen on the streets on any given night.

“My organization does not support people sleeping and living on the street,” White said. “We also do not support ... moving people off the sidewalk until there’s some clear alternative.”

A wave of California cities passed such laws in the 1990s, beginning with Santa Ana in 1992. The ordinances reflect a nationwide pattern, Foscarinis said. Recently Florida cities such as Orlando, Tampa and St. Petersburg have passed them.

“What’s driving it is that there’ve been increasing numbers of people on the street,” she said. “Criminalization is a misguided effort to respond to the problem.”

But supporters say the ordinances are needed.

In Palmdale, sheriff’s deputies pressed for the law, arguing that it would be “one more tool” to deal with a small band of trouble-making transients.

In the town’s empty lots, transients set up encampments, warming themselves by fires and drinking. Nearby businesses complain that they block doorways and intimidate customers with aggressive panhandling.

“With the ones I’ve encountered on the street, they don’t want the assistance,” said Sgt. Kyle Bistline of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Palmdale office. “We have tried and they refuse it. In fact, several of them tell us, ‘I have family living right here, but as long as I continue to do drugs and alcohol, I can’t live there.’ ”

The new law in Palmdale prohibits camping or sleeping in parked cars and on public streets, sidewalks or other property accessible to the public.

The department finds little credence in the argument that the law will endanger women and children, or teenagers who are homeless.

“There are enough shelters,” Bistline said.

“My experience in 3 1/2 years here,” she said: “The authentic homeless or the truly homeless seek out organizations.”

Social service providers see a different Antelope Valley.

Dan Sorensen, who represents Antelope Valley on the advisory board for the authority for services to the homeless, said service providers often send the poor to the high desert because they believe the area has more housing and lower rents.

But instead of finding affordable housing, many families end up tapping resources “that were designed for much fewer people given our lower population.”

Deputies will use discretion in enforcing the law, which went into effect this month, Bistline said.

That fact, opponents say, leaves the door open for selective enforcement that often discriminates against homeless people. They offer the example of a person with a backpack sitting on a park bench.

“If you’re the son of the mayor, you’re not likely to be hassled,” said Robert Myers, vice president of the National Lawyers Guild. “If you’re homeless, they might assume that you’re lodging.”

Laws outlawing camping by the homeless have been both upheld and rejected by the courts, depending on the laws’ provisions, so it’s impossible to predict how a measure in Los Angeles might fare if challenged.

Ramona Ripston of the ACLU said the organization “wants to see what’s going to happen to this motion” by Perry. “We are watching it.”

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union reached an agreement with the LAPD over the department’s treatment of the homeless: Police agreed not to stop homeless people without probable cause, or to force them to move when they are merely standing on the sidewalk.