To the editor: Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is okay to move homeless people from one area to another, issue costly fines, or arrest people and jail them simply for camping on public property. However, based on my experience as a homeless services volunteer, those actions do not solve the problem. (“Newsom orders California agencies to clear homeless encampments, but impact remains unknown,” July 25)
The only solution is to provide housing and supportive services. Credit must be given to the agencies of the City and County of Los Angeles that are already providing resources and housing to the homeless. The problem is that social service agencies are overburdened, temporary housing is scarce, and individuals and families continue to fall into homelessness.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and others may be losing patience with the pace at which homeless encampments are being cleared and people housed. But that's more due to high housing costs, community opposition to housing development for extremely low-income people and a shortage of mental health and substance use services.
Jane Demian, Los Angeles
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To the editor: The RAND study is wrong to conclude that cleanup operations simply displace homeless people.
Thanks to a combination of cleanups, shelter offerings, 24/7 no-camping zones, and the installation of gardens, fences, and physical barriers in strategic locations, there are no large homeless encampments in Venice today.
While there remain a few dozen homeless, drug-addicted, and mentally ill people on and around the beach, many of them are a result of failed outreach efforts by social service organizations during the big cleanup in the summer of 2021. That cleanup succeeded in removing more than 200 campers from the Venice Boardwalk and made it much more welcoming to the public.
Overall, cleanups along with enforcement have dramatically improved the quality of life for residents and the experiences of visitors.
Mark Ryavec, Venice
The author is President of the Venice Stakeholders Association.
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To the editor: Moving homeless people from the streets to temporary housing (such as hotels or motels) without comprehensive and easily accessible social services is as ineffective as clearing encampments and moving people from one city to another.
While Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says she disagrees with Newsom’s approach, both advocate for temporary “fixes.”
When our solutions are more geared toward not serving the homeless for a short period of time than actually helping them, we are partly responsible for perpetuating the cycle of homelessness. Just as I tell my children to make decisions today with the long term in mind, apparently we need to tell our adult leaders that too.
Let's follow the money: Are we spending more on transporting homeless people or on easily accessible and trained social workers, mental health professionals and healthcare providers?
Until we address this in a viable way, the only change that will occur will be a long-term increase in homelessness as life in California continues to become more expensive.
Matthew R. Jensen, St. Peter's
