Los Angeles isn’t the only city in the nation facing a housing crisis – in fact, cities like New York and Boston have more unhoused people per capita. So why does the problem seem to be so much more visible here?
The major issue is a lack of shelter beds in many California cities. While 94% of New York City’s unhoused population sleeps in shelters or transitional housing, that figure falls to only 30% in L.A., according to Department of Housing and Urban Development data.
But there’s another factor behind the rise in sidewalk encampments on the West Coast – a series of circuit court rulings that prevent cities from arresting people for sleeping in public without offering them somewhere else to go.
In 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision striking down an L.A. ordinance that criminalized sitting or lying on public sidewalks. A later ruling said that unhoused people can’t be punished for sleeping outside unless the city provides them with an alternative.
“So we’ve created this binary system where either the government provides housing or you are allowed to stay on the street,” explained Kevin Murray, president and CEO of the Weingart Center.
But while the rulings set a precedent for the western U.S., other courts across the country have made different rulings, allowing some cities to continue clearing encampments without offering shelter.
Even in L.A., where the Ninth Circuit Court rulings ostensibly apply, City Council passed an ordinance in 2021 allowing police to arrest unhoused people for sitting, sleeping, or lying in various locations. A recent survey found that only 13% of people were offered shelter during these anti-camping sweeps.
“There are various people challenging the Ninth Circuit decision. There are a number of different ways that people have tried to get around the concept,” Murray said. “But the only solution that’s really being proposed and pushed now is the idea that we just need to build more housing.”
Nationwide, homelessness and average rent prices both hit a record high this year. Despite the state of California pouring hundreds of millions into moving people off the streets, homelessness has risen 28% since 2019.
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