When the Supreme Court docket after which Gov. Gavin Newsom gave the green-light to crack down on homeless encampments this summer time, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass loudly took situation with that method — setting herself other than different big-city leaders.
However regardless of Bass’ public stance towards it, and her efforts to vary how town handles sweeps, town continues to fall brief in relation to defending the rights of individuals dwelling on the streets, based on a brand new report from a distinguished international human rights group.
In the reportHuman Rights Watch chronicles the way it says Los Angeles has prioritized shifting its homeless residents out of public view (and typically citing or arresting them) over serving to them. Police and metropolis staff use the specter of punishment to drive folks to maneuver out of encampments, and Bass has prioritized momentary lodge rooms and different shelters over everlasting housing, based on the report.
“Mayor Bass has done some very good things on this issue,” John Raphling, affiliate director within the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch, mentioned in an interview with CalMatters. “But the sweeps continue. The encampment clearances continue. And the criminalization by the police continues.”
Human Rights Watch took situation with Bass’ hallmark resolution to homelessness: her Inside Protected initiative, via which town strikes homeless residents from encampments into lodges. Human Rights Watch mentioned this system, which has served greater than 2,400 folks because it launched on the finish of 2022, is “unsustainably expensive, plagued by inconsistent and inadequate support services, and stymied by the lack of permanent housing for people to move on to.”
In compiling the report, Human Rights Watch says investigators interviewed greater than 100 unhoused or previously unhoused folks and analyzed information from police, the Los Angeles Division of Sanitation, the Los Angeles Homeless Providers Authority and the mayor’s workplace.
CalMatters shared key findings of the embargoed report with the Los Angeles Police Division, Mayor Karen Bass’ workplace and the Los Angeles Homeless Providers Authority. Human Rights Watch mentioned in addition they reached out to these companies to debate the outcomes.
“LAHSA’s outreach teams attend the City’s CARE and CARE+ clean-ups to provide client-centered, trauma-informed help to our unsheltered neighbors,” Christopher Yee, spokesperson for the Los Angeles Homeless Providers Authority, mentioned in an emailed assertion. “During our work at all CARE and CARE+ locations, we keep with our principles and best practices in providing connections to shelter, documents, and other services people may need.”
The mayor’s workplace didn’t reply to CalMatters’ questions by deadline. The police division mentioned it wouldn’t remark till the report was made public.
Mayor Bass’ public stance on homelessness in Los Angeles
The accusations distinction sharply from the way in which Bass’ administration says it handles homelessness. When the U.S. Supreme Court docket in June dominated it’s authorized for cities to ban homeless encampments — even when they don’t have any shelters obtainable — Bass was probably the most distinguished metropolis chief to take a stand towards the choice. Whilst Newsom and different native leaders applauded the ruling in Grants Go v. Johnson, Bass known as it “disappointing” and mentioned it “must not be used as an excuse for cities across the country to attempt to arrest their way out of this problem.”
A month later, when Newsom issued an govt order directing state companies to clear encampments and pushing cities to do the identical, a coalition of mayors from the state’s 13 largest cities cheered the transfer. However Bass once more was important. “Strategies that just move people along from one neighborhood to the next or give citations instead of housing do not work,” she mentioned in an announcement emailed July 25.
However based on Human Rights Watch, shifting folks alongside and handing out citations as a substitute of housing is strictly what Los Angeles has been doing. From 2016 via 2022 (the latest information obtainable within the report), almost all the citations issued by the Los Angeles Police Division went to unhoused folks — and unhoused folks comprised greater than 42% of misdemeanor arrests, based on the report. Police cited and arrested unhoused folks for violating ordinances that prohibit sitting or mendacity on public sidewalks, in addition to for infractions equivalent to ingesting alcohol in public, littering, loitering and violating park rules.
Whereas the variety of arrests and citations issued within the metropolis have declined from 2016 to 2022, Human Rights Watch mentioned police proceed to make use of the specter of arrest to drive unhoused folks to maneuver out of encampments, after which destroy their belongings.
Yee disagreed, saying that throughout the previous couple of years, the position of police at encampment cleanups has been “limited” and largely occurred at camps with a historical past of violence.
Sonja Verdugo skilled town’s sweeps coverage first hand in 2018 when she lived in an encampment in downtown Los Angeles whereas additionally holding down a brief job as a receptionist. Each Tuesday town made the camp residents pack up all their belongings and transfer — although everybody would simply come proper again a number of hours later.
“It was horrible,” Verdugo mentioned. “It was really stressful.”
It additionally prevented her from touchdown a everlasting job, as she needed to go away work each week to maneuver her belongings.
“How do you explain that to an employer?” she requested. The town helped Verdugo discover everlasting housing two years in the past via its Challenge Roomkey program, and he or she now works as an outreach employee serving to different folks on the streets. She says she continues to witness town sweeping encampments and throwing away folks’s belongings.
Inside Protected
As a substitute for criminalizing homelessness, Bass has touted her signature Inside Protected program, which clears camps after which places the camp residents up in lodges with the final word aim of shifting them from there into everlasting housing.
“There are a lot of problems with it,” Raphling mentioned. “It’s a huge, huge amount of money for a very small amount of people for a very temporary situation handled in a coercive way.”
From December 2022 via March 2024, Inside Protected cleared 42 encampments and moved 2,482 folks into lodges, based on Human Rights Watch. Of these folks, simply 440 had moved on to everlasting housing as of March 2024, whereas 504 had returned to the streets. A lot of the relaxation have been nonetheless dwelling within the lodges, whereas a handful had died or been jailed or hospitalized.
Whereas the variety of unhoused folks dwelling in Los Angeles remained about the identical this 12 months in comparison with 2023, the variety of unhoused folks dwelling on the road — versus in shelters — decreased 10%. Bass has pointed to that drop in folks dwelling on the road as proof Inside Protected is working.
However this system is dear. It price town greater than $300 million to run Inside Protected for its first 12 months, which included a value of greater than $3,500 monthly for every lodge room, based on the report.
Inside Protected contributors even have complained about situations within the lodges, declaring points starting from soiled sheets and malfunctioning home equipment, to leaks and mildew — even violence and poor safety, based on the report.
One participant, who Human Rights Watch recognized as Andrea S., moved into an Inside Protected lodge final 12 months after town cleared her encampment on the median of a busy road in Los Angeles. The sweep itself was traumatic, and Andrea advised Human Rights Watch that the authorities made her give them permission to destroy her belongings as a situation of giving her a lodge room.
“Mayor Bass has done some very good things on this issue. But the sweeps continue. The encampment clearances continue. And the criminalization by the police continues.”
John Raphling, affiliate director, U.S. program at Human Rights Watch
The town cleared 51 folks and eliminated almost 42,000 kilos of fabric and possessions throughout that sweep — together with greater than 700 kilos of hazardous waste, based on the report. The town didn’t retailer any gadgets for occupants to retrieve later, based on the report.
As soon as she moved into the lodge, Andrea advised Human Rights Watch that the room was soiled and the bathe didn’t work. Then, town moved her a number of instances between completely different rooms and even completely different lodges. One week she moved 5 instances, based on the report, which she mentioned exacerbated her anxiousness and stress. Now, she’s nervous about how lengthy she’ll be allowed to remain in this system — which additionally worsens her anxiousness, based on the report.
A 2023 CalMatters investigation discovered related points with this system. It decided that whereas Inside Protected succeeded in getting many individuals indoors and eradicating quite a few encampments, it struggled to offer the psychological well being and different companies contributors wanted, whereas additionally struggling to maneuver them into everlasting housing.
Human Rights Watch additionally criticized the way in which town doles out lodge rooms. It prioritizes folks from distinguished encampments as a substitute of reserving rooms for individuals who want them probably the most, equivalent to those that are aged, disabled or sick, based on the report. Because of this, whereas residents from camps focused by Inside Protected find yourself in lodge rooms, folks displaced from less-prominent encampments usually don’t, based on the report.
“When LAHSA conducts outreach ahead of CARE and CARE+ operations, it offers shelter to those in the encampment if it is available in that area,” Yee mentioned in an emailed assertion to CalMatters. “However, due to the high occupancy of the LA region’s shelter system, shelter placements are not always available.”
As metropolis officers resolve how they are going to reply to Newsom’s push to clear encampments, Bass has an opportunity to vary Los Angeles’ insurance policies and turn out to be an instance of how one can do it proper, Raphling mentioned.
“I think she’s saying the right things about not criminalizing,” he mentioned. “Now she’s got to really back that up.”
