South Bay : City Considers Anti-Homeless Ordinance

Lawndale is considering tough restrictions on camping in public in an effort to keep the homeless from sleeping or loitering on city land.

Patterned after a Santa Ana measure recently upheld by the state Supreme Court, the Lawndale ordinance would bar camping or use of public property to store personal belongings.

The ordinance, which could be approved as early as Monday, defines campers as those who use sleeping bags, tents, huts or temporary shelters. City Atty. Bill Wynder said someone sleeping in a cardboard box would be punishable under the ordinance, but not necessarily someone napping in public without camping aids. “I don’t think we can prohibit all types of overnight sleeping,” Wynder said.

Sgt. Greg Ahn of the Lennox sheriff’s station, which patrols Lawndale, said the city has for years had problems with homeless people camping out on city land, especially around the civic center.

Yet Sister Michele Morris with the House of Yahweh, which runs a soup kitchen for the poor in Lawndale, faulted the proposal for being too punitive while doing nothing to help homeless people stay off the streets with social service referrals and housing vouchers. “It’s not enough to pass an ordinance creating more harassment for the homeless,” she said. “It’s not a crime to be poor.”

But it could be costly. The first offense would be punishable by a $50 fine; the second offense within 12 months, $100; and the third, $250. Actually collecting the fines could be another matter.