VENICE, Calif. (CN) — Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has said he’ll clear homeless encampments from Venice Beach’s scenic boardwalk and arrest unhoused people who refuse to leave or skip on offers for a shelter bed. Critics say the plan has disrupted ongoing efforts to house people and scattered tent-dwellers to neighboring areas.
Homelessness is a complex challenge across California, a state with more than 161,000 unhoused people. In Venice, an oceanfront community west of Los Angeles, the scale of the challenge is apparent almost everywhere you go.
Tents and makeshift shelters line the boardwalk, which is popular with tourists and locals alike. Outside the strip, unhoused people live in cars, RVs and tents along streets, sidewalks and lots across the community.
While homelessness is not new to Venice, the boardwalk encampment grew to nearly 300 people at times during the pandemic. The issue gained national attention when Villanueva said last month he would clear encampments by July 4 --- an announcement that drew praise from some residents who flooded social media with support for swift police-led action to clear the camps.
At the boardwalk, resident Travis Sloan said recent fights, fires and even deaths among the unhoused pushed him to back an “expedited” clearing of encampments.
“I think people getting expedited help to be off the street is a good direction. It’s dangerous conditions and there are those who need serious help like drug rehab or they can’t work anymore,” Sloan said. “But this has gotten out of hand.”
But Sloan said he doesn’t want a repeat of the police-led clearing of homeless camps at LA’s Echo Park lake this year, which resulted in some unhoused people losing possessions or being shuffled to other parks and nearby freeway underpasses.
As she sets up her tarot card stand on the boardwalk, Patricia Jones, a former 18-year resident of Venice who recently moved across town, said she’s built relations with many homeless people over her 25 years working on the boardwalk.
“When I first started reading tarot in Venice, it wasn’t like it’s become,” Jones said. “People knew the homeless people here but over the years there’s been a vast accumulation.”
The recent surge in encampments has made the issue intolerable, Jones said, adding she supports clearing the boardwalk.
“I don’t dislike them. I want it to be a liberal Venice,” Jones said. “But there’s this sense of entitlement many of them have. It’s not good for business.”
Jones said homeless people should definitely be offered housing before the boardwalk is cleared but she’s not sure if police should lead that effort.
“Until they get in [housing], I have no idea,” Jones said. “I’ve had run-ins with police in Venice and they’re really not fair.”
A deep-rooted challenge
As Church of the Good Shepherd volunteer Marcus Jordan passed out meals to hungry people on the boardwalk Tuesday, he stopped to buy a cowboy hat from an unhoused vendor and greeted others he’s met over the years.
Jordan, who said church volunteers pass out 3,000 meals a week across the city, was critical of swift police enforcement of anti-camping laws.
“If you’re going to clear them out, at least have a place for them to go to,” Jordan said. “You don’t take away someone’s home unless you can give something better. This is all some people have.”
Nearly 1,700 people were unsheltered in Venice in 2020, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) data. In 2018, the figure was 847.
Of those unsheltered in Venice, about 1,053 were estimated to be sleeping on the street, in tents or in makeshift shelters.
