L.A. City Council repeals homeless camping bans in Echo Park, Silver Lake, Hollywood

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Set us as preferred The Los Angeles City Council has rescinded camping bans on a dozen locations in Hollywood, Echo Park and Silver Lake at the urging of the area’s council member, who called the bans ineffective in addressing homelessness.“Displacing our neighbors from block to block, or in many cases from district to district, doesn’t help them find housing,” said Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez in asking his colleagues to remove the camping ban.

“In most cases, it makes it much harder for us to help them because they lose their belongings, they get fined, and many times they are arrested.To me, that is a policy that does not work.” The motion was approved on a 10-3 vote at Tuesday’s council meeting, with Imelda Padilla, Traci Park and Monica Rodriguez dissenting.

Soto-Martínez said he believed it was the first instance of an encampment ban being rescinded.Padilla accused Soto-Martínez of engaging in a double standard, asking the council to defer to his wishes in his district while opposing efforts by his colleagues to establish no-encampment zones in their communities.“Is this a matter of supporting you because this is what you want, or should I just treat you the way you’ve been treating us?” Padilla asked.Councilmember Traci Park, who represents part of the Westside, said she’s used anti-camping zones to keep former encampments from coming back.“We do outreach.

We offer beds and services, and we get people off the streets.But after we do that work, we expect that after all that time and money and resources went into an operation, that the area remains safe and clean and accessible,” Park said.

The city’s anti-encampment law, under Municipal Code Section 41.18, prohibits encampments near schools and day-care centers.The council can also establish discretionary no-camping zones near libr...