Los Angeles County says ‘care first, prisons second’ on Newsome’s homeless encampment ordinance

Los Angeles County is choosing to continue a “care first, jails last” approach for the county’s more than 75,000 homeless people, despite recent pressure from California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“We’re not going to escape what’s happening on the streets by making arrests,” said Los Angeles City Council member Kathryn Barger, who was one of five people who voted unanimously this week against Newsome’s executive order to shut down homeless encampments across the state.

In his July 25 executive order, Newsom announced $24 billion in funding for local governments across the state to address widespread homeless encampments, saying in a statement that “there are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part.”

The governor’s order follows the Supreme Court’s landmark June decision in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, which gave local governments the basis to issue fines and arrests for sleeping outdoors on public property.

Barger emphasized that she does not oppose Newsome’s executive order but supports the ongoing work of the board and its partners to address the homelessness crisis in the county.

“We’re concerned that if we’re not all on the same page about how the Grants Pass decision is going to impact the ability to clean up encampments, we’re just going to be moving people from one city to another,” Barger said of the 88 municipalities in Los Angeles County.

Showing unanimity with the board, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a meeting Tuesday: “Being homeless is not a crime, and we will continue to focus on criminal behavior, not the status of an individual.”

Barger believes the path to achieving lasting results for the county’s homeless population is paved through outreach, education, mental health services and job training, which he says “gets lost” in the conversation.

The “Care First, Prisons Last” investment is a Measure J legislative initiative approved by voters in 2020 that seeks to allocate at least 10% of existing locally controlled, unrestricted revenues to community investments and alternatives to incarceration.

This measure includes the Care First Community Investment (CFCI) program, for which the Board of Trustees allocates $88.3 million annually.

Additionally, the Sheriff’s Office Homeless Outreach Team (HOST) is comprised of a group of law enforcement officers who work with homeless service agencies to assist homeless individuals.

Supervisor Hilda Solis told ABC News that the law enforcement partnership “has been an integral partner in our Care First approach.”

“Since its inception, HOST has never made arrests for encampments on public property or posing a threat to public health,” Solis said.

Despite pressure at the state level, the number of people living on the streets in Los Angeles has actually decreased over the past year.

The Los Angeles City Controller’s Office confirmed to ABC News that the city’s homeless population will decrease by 10,000 between 2023 and 2024.

This month, the nonprofit policy organization RAND released a 2023 study that found that in areas where clearing of encampments occurred frequently, the encampments returned within two to three months.

Following the mass clearing of homeless encampments in the Venice Beach neighborhood of Los Angeles, the percentage of homeless people rose from 20% to 46%, a study found.

In a report released in June 2024, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) found that Los Angeles Municipal Code 41.18, which allows for the removal of encampments in certain areas, is not effective in reducing the number of encampments or providing shelter for people — and would cost more than $3 million over two years to implement, not including enforcement costs.

“I’ve never seen incarceration work to end homelessness, I’ve only seen it prolong homelessness,” Downtown Women’s Center CEO Amy Turk told ABC News.

Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women and gender nonconforming people experiencing homelessness.

Turk has worked directly with the homeless population in Los Angeles for two decades, providing trauma-informed support, shelter, and assistance in finding permanent housing.

“When I see people moving towards criminalization, dismantling encampments and not giving people a place to go, I see people moving from one plot to another, and you’re not solving anything.”

Others, however, say that efforts by county authorities and local organizations to relieve residents from taking to the streets are not being felt on the ground floor, where the camps, they say, continue to make life difficult for other residents.

“I think it’s abundantly clear that programs and policies at both the city and county levels have failed to significantly and sustainably reduce the number of people on the streets,” Paul Webster, executive director of the Los Angeles Alliance for Human Rights (LAAHR), told ABC News.

“Residents, business owners and even people experiencing homelessness have been hearing for years that things are getting better and that the city and county have put programs in place to end homelessness in Los Angeles, but nothing has happened for years,” Webster added.

In 2020, LAAHR sued the city and county of Los Angeles, claiming city officials were not doing enough to address the homelessness crisis.

Webster said the lawsuit calls for more shelter beds, better access to mental health and substance abuse treatment and a return to intended uses of public roads and public spaces.

In 2022, the case was settled and the county agreed to pay $236 million to fund increased services, outreach and education, and temporary housing.

“We have seen some progress,” Webster said two years after the lawsuit, adding, “We are still working to actively monitor and actively hold the city and county accountable for these liabilities.”