Culver City, California, banned tent encampments to clean up the city and get homeless off the street but received pushback from authorities.
Culver City Bans Tent Encampments
The local government in Culver City, California, is facing criticism this week after city council members passed a sweeping ban on tent encampments in an effort to get people experiencing homelessness off the streets.
Council members in Culver City, where a new 4.5-acre Apple campus has been proposed and where the median price of a home is just shy of $1 million, voted earlier this week to ban tents and makeshift structures in public spaces, a step other nearby cities have tried only to be stopped by legal challenges.
The Details
A new anti-camping ordinance aimed at clearing out homeless encampments has been met with fierce criticism from leaders and residents who say it will displace the most vulnerable to make way for gentrification in this rapidly changing city.
Proponents of the Culver City ordinance say the city must stay in lockstep with surrounding communities to prevent more unhoused people from taking up residence on its streets.
Criticism
“All these laws do is they push people from one location to another. This patchwork of regulations is nearly impossible for unhoused people to actually navigate,” said Shayla Myers, a senior attorney who focuses on housing with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.
Several homeless people who would be affected by the ordinance say they prefer living outdoors than in a shelter, and that they won’t go voluntarily.
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