The City’s Answers : Overhaul the Current Policy; ‘Put Families and Neighborhoods First’

When a homeless encampment is identified, it can currently take anywhere from three to six months to coordinate the resources that will eventually--but only temporarily--bring relief to both the local residents and those living in encampments. Therefore, last November I introduced a motion calling on the city’s Community Development Department to overhaul the Homeless Cleanup Authorization Policy.

Keeping in mind that we must maintain a constant balance, considering the rights of both the property owners and those living in the encampments, I further called on the department to confer with the American Civil Liberties Union on the policy, thereby making sure that it does not infringe on the rights of the homeless living on public property once the time comes to take action to bring relief to the area.

However, we must understand that it is not uncommon for an encampment to be uprooted, only to have it back within days, sometimes hours. There are homeless in our streets who move from encampment to encampment. Overwhelmingly, these encampments are in the inner cities; there are more than 20 in my district alone. But while most encampments are in the shadows of City Hall, this is a citywide issue.

Many of these encampments have become safe havens for crack dealers and rampant crime. They have encroached on our public schools; children are growing up amid transients and cardboard houses. Children should feel secure in their neighborhoods, yet community-watch groups can only be as effective as our police departments.

Community-based policing can only work when we give police the tools to ensure the safety of residents. The Los Angeles Police Department needs the ability to target those encampments that house drug dealers or prostitutes with special policing and coordinated efforts between city departments. We need to put families and neighborhoods first.

Mr. and Mrs. Dunn’s alley could be my alley or your alley.

Their problem has an impact on all of us.

Only by working together--city departments, neighborhoods and the LAPD--will we be able to clean up that particular alley once and for all, and make some progress on the larger issue of homelessness.

Editors’ note: The Los Angeles Police Department is reviewing the facts of the Dunn’s problem and will respond directly to them when the review is completed, according to a spokesman.