California city bans people from living in tents amid homeless crisis

[SunSeeker]

CULVER CITY, Calif. — A new anti-camping ordinance aimed at clearing out homeless encampments has been met with fierce criticism from leaders and residents who say it will displace the most vulnerable to make way for gentrification in this rapidly changing city.

Council members in Culver City, where a new 4.5-acre Apple campus has been proposed and where the median price of a home is just shy of $1 million, voted earlier this week to ban tents and makeshift structures in public spaces, a step other nearby cities have tried only to be stopped by legal challenges.

With more than 170,000 people living in tents and cars and sleeping outdoors on sidewalks and under highway overpasses, California is the epicenter of the nation’s homeless crisis, yet few, if any, communities have been able to make a significant dent in the number of unsheltered residents living within their borders.

A 2018 federal court decision stemming from an Idaho ordinance found that criminalizing homelessness, including prohibiting sleeping in public, violates the U.S. Constitution and amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment" if no shelter beds are available.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-city-bans-people-living-tents-homeless-crisis-rcna70852

[jimfields33]

1. 170,000 people living in tents? California come on. That outrageous.

I’d never in a million years expect that number.

[SunSeeker]

5. They come here from all over the country because of the nice weather.

You can survive here in a tent. Average temp in L.A. is a perfect room temperature of 73°F. Not too hot, not too cold. No humidity. It's heaven. That's why property values are through the roof here.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

6. large state of 40 million people

[usonian]

2. Visiting the bay area, I saw a CHP car parked by the side of the road.

It was apparently there to watch over a clean-out of a homeless camp.

Seems it's easier to pay contractors to remove camps than to figure out some way to give people a decent place to live.

NIMBY seems to be the problem, despite attempts to get rid of "wealthy only" zoning laws.

Perhaps when people become more sympathetic towards the down and out than millionaire football players?

[SunSeeker]

4. Our real estate values are a self-implementing "wealthy only" zoning law.

Culver City used to be blue collar. Now, with the average house over $1M, the high earning professionals who live there now don't want tents on their sidewalks after paying all that money to live there.

[intrepidity]

3. Hmmmm, wonder how many AirBnBs there

Considering the movie studios and proximity to Venice beach, I'm guessing more than a few.

That can't help the housing crisis.