Despite a 7 a.m. deadline for city crews to remove unhoused residents from the Venice Boardwalk area, some residents remained come Friday morning.
The deadline for removing unhoused residents from the large encampment that developed during the COVID-19 crisis has instead been extended an additional week to next Friday, when Zone 4, between Rose and Dudley avenues, will also be cleared.
It was not clear whether a sweep would take place when sanitation workers arrived a little before 8:30 a.m. However, they started with only picking up trash, leaving the tents in the boardwalk area up.
Outreach teams with St. Joseph's Center moved 104 people according to City News Service. They convinced the unhoused residents to leave the encampment with the promise of a pathway to permanent housing.
"For the current zone, Zone 5, since it is one of our larger zones and tends to have more complex structures and personal belongings, St. Joe's requested more time in that zone to help people sort their items and get them ready to transition to housing," Bonin's Deputy Chief of Staff David Graham- Caso told City News Service.
The Los Angeles Times reported that sweeps took place early Thursday morning as the deadline approached.
According to the paper, a crew of LA sanitation and recreation and parks workers along with officers from the Los Angeles Police Department cleaned and surveilled the area along Ocean Front Walk for more than three hours.
Efforts to clear and house the homeless residents of Venice have exploded into a political battle between city councilors, local residents and law enforcement in the past months.
Councilman Mike Bonin proposed a $5 million initiative to offer all those living in encampments along Ocean Front Walk a pathway to permanent housing. The money would go to providing interim housing for 200 people who had been living along the boardwalk.
The temporary housing includes up to six months of motel placements, which is the most commonly requested form of temporary housing, Bonin said.
The initiative launched in the last week of June. St. Joseph Center outreach teams were scheduled to offer housing, shelter and services to the people living in encampments.
Bonin’s approach stands in contrast to the Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva preferred method of sweeps.
Villanueva wanted the boardwalk cleared ahead of the July 4 weekend. When he visited the Venice encampment in June, he said the visit was "to view the failures of local politicians in regard to the homeless crisis."
Despite the delay, city officials say the clearing of the boardwalk area will continue. Zone 3, between Dudley and Sunset avenues, will be cleared by July 23, while Zone 2, between Sunset and Park avenues, will be cleared by July 30.
LA County and City are currently in a legal battle over U.S. District Judge David O. Carter’s order requiring the local governments to offer to house those living on the streets of Skid Row.