After decades of battling with rising homelessness in the area, Long Beach, California, will finally start to fine and arrest homeless people living in illegal campsites around the city.
The orders come straight from Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom who has often been criticised for his failure to act on the issues in the city. However, some advocates say that criminalizing the problem will only worsen matters.
Supreme Court Ruling
The majority conservative-leaning Supreme Court issued a new ruling on the matter last week. In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that cities can ban people from camping in public places and arrest them for trespassing – even in the absence of public shelters.
The higher court actually overturned a lower court ruling that deemed the practice of arresting homeless individuals as cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment if the person had nowhere else to sleep.
Gavin Newsom Made Big Changes
In a surprising turn of events, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a new directive ordering state officials to take down homeless encampments, sometimes by force.
In the past, Newsom has been criticized for giving homeless people too much power in the Golden State, throwing money away at the issue, and not upholding policies that could end the homeless epidemic.
Long Beach Is Following the Order
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After Newsom took to the streets to help clean up garbage and waste from waterways and residential areas, other cities are following the new directive.
Long Beach is the latest municipality to announce that the city will follow the order and begin handing out fines at first to deter homeless individuals.
Big Plans From the City
Long Beach Deputy City Manager Teresa Chandler sent out a memo earlier this week: “This enforcement mechanism will be used as an additional tool when appropriate while continuing to apply a human-centered approach to addressing homelessness.”
Although the initiative might seem like tough love, many city officials think that the change in handling the issue is needed to clean up the area.
Improving Safety in the Community
City officials say that the encampments that they will target first are the ones displaying gang activity and drug use. The need to improve public safety and improve access to specific locations that homeless individuals have taken over.
So far, certain public spaces have become unusable by the general public; beaches, libraries, and parks are all included in some of the spaces that need to be immediately cleaned up. As well, the city says that they will target groups that have previously declined to accept offers for shelter.
Thousands of Encampments in the City
In the past year, public works says that they have responded to more than 3,200 encampments.
However, the city has not disclosed how many citations were handed out or the amount of jail time that the citations could face. They say that now, the new rules will help eliminate some of the issues by incentivizing transient individuals from moving to California.
New Measures May Not Work
Although similar measures have worked in the past to clean up cities, legal experts in Long Beach are unsure if the changes to the law will change the area much.
“The idea [that] they’re going to jail people for being homeless is laughable,” criminal attorney David Wohl said. “In L.A. county where those jails are located, I’ve had clients sentenced on felony cases to 120 days in jail, and they are released the next day.” Overcrowding in jails seems only to exacerbate the issue.
Fines Will Have Little Effect
On top of the unhelpful legal system, when handing out fines to people who have no official government ID and no address, it can be extremely difficult for the city to follow up on the payment.
In many cases, transient individuals already have extremely poor credit and don’t have any issue carrying around another unpaid fine.
More Criticisms of Newsom’s Actions
Leo Terrell, a civil rights attorney in California has issued a few questions on the motivations behind Newsom’s new executive order.
“I’m old enough to remember that Gavin Newsom had a plan to deal with homelessness; that was in 2008,” said Terrel. “Why now? Is it [because it’s an] election year?” He says that he is happy that Long Beach is taking on a new initiative, but they may be too late to rectify the issue.
Law Enforcement Must Back Up the Plan
Terrell says that much of the success in Long Beach hinges on the ability for judges and law enforcement to back up fines, arrests, and jail time for people who violate the new rule.
“Will the city prosecutor prosecute these cases? It might be a catch-22,” he said. “Will they be prosecuted for the crime? Will they be in jail? A lot of people get a citation, they don’t show up.
Why Is Homelessness Such an Issue in California
California is a state with almost 40 million people, and it ranks 5th on the global economy, bigger than most independent countries. However, despite the wealth and success, some of the extreme inequalities have created massive issues with homelessness and chronic unemployment.
Many people have noted that the cost of housing is almost triple that elsewhere in the country while low-paying jobs remain stagnant. Another unique issue that California faces is the warm weather. It’s one of the only states that is warm all year round without much of a rainy season, people can live outside throughout the year and unlike Florida, no harsh monsoon season.
