The battle over L.A.’s ‘no encampment’ zones gets more intense

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, telling you about the drama of the past week, with an assist from my colleague, Dakota Smith.

For more than a year, Mayor Karen Bass has been telling audiences across the city that she’s been “locking arms” with her fellow elected officials, teaming up with them to ensure the region makes serious headway in the fight against homelessness.

That uplifting message — coupled with dozens of operations moving people out of encampments — has allowed Bass to paper over some of the real policy differences that separate the politicians working with her on the crisis. But those divisions became painfully public this week, with city and county officials throwing sharp elbows.

What precipitated the change? The fight over Municipal Code 41.18, the controversial city law that bars homeless encampments from coming within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers.

Under that law, LAPD officers can issue a citation if an unhoused resident refuses to clear space for a wheelchair or puts a tent within five feet of a doorway. It allows the council to create no-encampment zones around “sensitive” locations, such as libraries, senior centers and freeway overpasses.

On Monday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath publicly blasted the law, declaring that 41.18 — which applies only to the city, not the county — is a failure.

“The data is clear,” she declared on X, formerly known as Twitter. “41.18 is a failed policy that has only made our homelessness crisis worse.”

Horvath, who represents parts of the Westside and San Fernando Valley, made those assertions amid an already hot debate over a memo, issued by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, sharply criticizing 41.18.

That agency, also known as LAHSA, called the law “generally ineffective” at moving homeless residents into permanent housing. In its five-page memo, the agency also concluded that most encampment areas targeted by 41.18 were repopulated within a year.

The document, which is months old but recently was leaked to news outlets, only added to the long-standing tensions between LAHSA, which receives city funding, and some on the council who have voiced distrust in the agency and its handling of data.

On Friday, the council voted unanimously to seek a performance evaluation of LAHSA programs that receive city funding, including data collection and outreach services.

“We’re tired of beating our head against the wall,” said Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, shortly after the vote. “We want to know what are the outcomes, what are the results of our dollars.”

Meanwhile, council members remain divided on 41.18.

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who has called for the ordinance to be repealed, welcomed LAHSA’s report, saying it showed that the city is spending millions of dollars on the “ineffective criminalization of homelessness.” Council President Paul Krekorian, a backer of 41.18, took the opposite view, denouncing the report’s contents as “clearly faulty and incomplete, and perhaps even misleading.”

Krekorian said the homeless services authority labeled a 41.18 zone as repopulated even if a single person returned for a single day.

“Considering that many of these sites had been continuously occupied by dozens of tents for months or even years before the amendments to 41.18, to suggest they have been ‘repopulated’ in such circumstances is absurd,” he said.

LAHSA, in its report, acknowledged that the quality of data around 41.18 is low, blaming the city for that situation. The Times raised other issues with LAHSA’s analysis, reporting that, in many locations, the conditions on the ground were very different from those identified by the homeless agency.

LAHSA, in a statement, stood by its work. Meanwhile, the broadside from Krekorian was strong enough to prompt Horvath to issue her clapback. Horvath, who sits on LAHSA’s board and is currently its chair, stepped in to defend the agency’s work, calling for an end to “this tired game of finger pointing.”

Horvath declined an interview request. In an email, she told The Times that the ordinance “does not live up to the urgency of the moment.” The city’s “piecemeal enforcement” of 41.18, she said, is “worsening the crisis by directing funds to a program that is not getting people housed.”

Horvath was a council member in West Hollywood before she won her supervisorial seat. That city has a law barring the public from sitting, sleeping or lying on any sidewalk unless they are watching a parade or have a physical disability.

Asked about that law, Horvath said West Hollywood had housing and “substantial services” for its homeless population.

“Every community deserves accessible sidewalks and public spaces, and many jurisdictions have found humane and effective ways to achieve this outcome,” she said in her email.

By the end of the week, other council members had begun defending 41.18, describing it as a critical tool for restoring the public’s access to sidewalks and other areas.

Blumenfield, who represents the West Valley, said he used 41.18 to clear encampments that lined Winnetka Avenue as it passes under the 101 Freeway. Before 41.18, he said, tents occupied the sidewalk on both sides of the street, forcing students heading to and from Taft High School to walk in traffic to get around the encampments.

Blumenfield said his office made offers of shelter to encampment residents before the no-camping signs went up. He also disagreed with the idea that 41.18 had made the city’s homelessness crisis worse.

Once the sidewalks on Winnetka and elsewhere were cleared, it was easier to convince district residents to support new interim housing sites for the city’s unhoused neighbors, Blumenfield said.

“We would never have been able to do that if the underpass was still the magnet for encampments that it had become,” he said.

Councilmember Kevin de León also defended the law, saying it helped his Eastside district see a 7% reduction in unsheltered homelessness. Streets that repopulated, such as the area around the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Monument in downtown Los Angeles, did so because of a lack of law enforcement, he said.

“After it was clean and the merchants were happy, there was little to no enforcement” of 41.18, De León said.

Like LAHSA, the LAPD has been asked to provide information about 41.18 to Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso, who is preparing a larger analysis of that law. That report, which is several months overdue, is expected in the coming weeks.

Bass, who spent part of the week in Paris examining preparations for the Olympic Games, has stayed out of the debate so far. When she returns, she will have plenty to contend with on homelessness, and the competing views on how to address it.

State of play

— SIX RACES, SIX RESULTS: Three council members — Marqueece Harris-Dawson, John Lee and Imelda Padilla — easily won reelection on Tuesday. Three others — Kevin de León, Heather Hutt and Nithya Raman — were ahead of their opponents but had not secured the majority needed to win outright. Of those three, Raman is still within striking distance of 50%, and has a real chance of winning outright as results come in.

— SO WHO’S IN SECOND? If Raman falls shy of a majority, she will face Deputy City Atty. Ethan Weaver in a Nov. 5 runoff. Hutt is certain to face off against attorney Grace Yoo in her district. Meanwhile, De León looks headed into a showdown with tenant rights attorney Ysabel Jurado. On Friday, she was ahead of Assemblymember Miguel Santiago by 21 votes.

— WAITING GAME: With staffers at the Los Angeles County Registrar/County Clerk posting daily updates on the election results, now is a good time to brush up on why ballot counting takes so long in California. The county will release updated results each weekday between 4 and 5 p.m. for the next two weeks.

— STILL IN FLUX: In the East San Fernando Valley, former Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian placed first in the race to replace Krekorian, who is leaving his council seat due to term limits. On Friday, small business owner Jillian Burgos pulled into second place, ahead of commissioner Sam Kbushyan.

— CHECK YOUR EMAIL: Krekorian used a city email this week to congratulate Nazarian, his onetime aide, on his first-place finish in Tuesday’s election. Critics quickly denounced that move, saying Krekorian violated a city law barring officials from using city resources to engage in campaign activity. Krekorian, who has endorsed Nazarian, told The Times he wasn’t campaigning when he sent that message.

— VIVE LA FRANCE: Bass and three council members — Krekorian, Traci Park and Katy Yaroslavsky — spent part of the week in Paris learning about that city’s preparations for the 2024 Olympic Games. With L.A.’s Olympics-hosting duties now four years away, the delegation met with United States Ambassador Denise Campbell Bauer and conferred with Mayor Anne Hidalgo at Paris City Hall.

— BUILDING BIKE LANES: The campaign for Measure HLA declared victory on Wednesday, after securing well over 60% of the vote. The measure, which goes into effect in a month, will require the city to install bike lanes, bus lanes and other transportation upgrades on streets that undergo repairs.

— UTLA U-TURN: One day before the election, United Teachers of Los Angeles rescinded its endorsement of school board candidate Kahllid Al-Alim after he “liked” or reposted social media posts with antisemitic, pro-gun or pornographic content. Despite that setback, Al-Alim appeared to be headed for a Nov. 5 runoff against Sherlett Newbill, a senior advisor to school board member George McKenna — although of course the vote counting continues.

— QUEENS KEEP THEIR CROWNS: Three of the L.A. County Supervisors — Kathryn Barger, Janice Hahn and Holly J. Mitchell — all held comfortable leads in their respective races. At this point, it’s hard to imagine any of them in a Nov. 5 runoff.

— DUEL FOR D.A.: Dist. Atty. George Gascón received less than a fourth of the vote on Tuesday night. But he also got a runoff opponent who could turn out to be a useful foil in November. Gascón’s camp has already begun portraying his matchup against former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman as a “clear Democrat-versus-Republican choice.” Hochman is running as an independent.

— TALE OF TWO CITIES: By day, Rick Cole works as the high-level aide to City Controller Kenneth Mejia. But by night, Mejia’s chief deputy controller will be voting as part of the seven-member Pasadena City Council. Cole, who was elected to that office on Tuesday, is returning to the council after a 29-year absence. He was elected after picking up support from Streets for All, Abundant Housing Los Angeles and other groups.

— RAMPING UP RECRUITMENT: Bass announced Thursday that the Los Angeles Police Department received more than 1,200 applications to become police officers, a two-year high for the city. The mayor said those numbers show that her efforts to rebuild the size of the LAPD are bearing fruit. Still, she has a long road ahead. According to the latest numbers, LAPD staffing is continuing to drop, and is now down to 8,876 officers.

— MARCH MADNESS?: Times columnist George Skelton has concluded that the early primary for California is a “nightmare.” He says the Golden State should return to its “traditional, comfortable June primary,” at least for congressional and state races.

(Not so) quick hits

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s program to combat homelessness went to a median strip in the Chinatown section of Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez‘s district. The program also made its third visit to Cahuenga Boulevard at the 101 Freeway. That area has been a source of frustration for neighbors, who say they have had to contend with encampment fires and other public safety issues. The two operations moved 20 people indoors, according to a Bass aide.

• On the docket for next week: The City Council has canceled its meetings for Tuesday and Wednesday. But Hernandez will be rolling out a plan for reducing trash and clearing away bulky items — sofas, mattresses and so on — from parts of Westlake and Pico-Union.