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Today the Los Angeles City Council plans to take a final vote on rules that could see homeless encampments dismantled and personal property left on sidewalks and in city parks removed.
Currently the city gives 72 hours notice before removing personal items. The new ordinances, tentatively backed by the council last week, would reduce this notice period to 24 hours and the city would be required to store the belongings for 90 days. As with the current process, the city will retain the right to discard any unclaimed items after this.
Homeless advocates are planning to gather outside City Hall today in protest. They say the new rules would make it close to impossible for a homeless person to possess any items, of any size, in a public space.
In the meantime homelessness appears to be on the rise with officials saying the latest homeless count in Los Angeles
County found a 12 percent increase in homelessness and an 85 percent jump in the number of tents, encampments and vehicles occupied by homeless people.
Councilman Mike Bonin says that because of Los Angeles’ inability to deal with homelessness in the past 10 years “We are now a city of encampments”
