PHOTO/MATT TINOCO LAIST
LOS ANGELES CA —Seemingly out of nowhere the discussion among the Los Angeles City Council, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, homeless service providers and even some homeless advocacy groups has abruptly shifted from housing the unhoused to banishing them. This includes proposed new laws that would severely limit areas where the unhoused can sleep, indicating a ruling class that has no idea how to respond to this crisis facing Los Angeles.
The dirty details are a proposal by City Councilperson Mitch O’Farrell that would change the Los Angeles Municipal Code 41.18 (d) to read, “No Person shall sit, lie or sleep in or upon any street, sidewalk, or other public right of way” within 500 feet of a school, 500 feet of a park, 500 feet of a daycare center and eight other equally severe limitations.
These restrictions would limit areas for unhoused encampments to less than 50% of the city and the areas for encampments would change day by day and from one side of a street to the other. Sleeping or lying in a restricted area would be a violation of the code and punishable by fines, confiscation of property or jail time!
Because there are so few shelters in L.A. City, this proposal would soon lead to proposals for “camps in the desert” eerily similar to camps created for immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. from deadly living conditions in their home countries.
