Long Beach could issue citations, make arrests as part of new plan to battle homelessness
LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- It's been more than a month since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for cities and counties to remove the homeless from public places, and now Long Beach city officials released a plan that includes citing or arresting people who refuse to leave encampments.
"I think homelessness is the most important issue facing every one of our cities," said Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson.
According to the mayor, efforts in Long Beach have led to a decline in the city's homeless population but it is still a serious problem.
In the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling, Gov. Gavin Newsom said state agencies would begin clearing encampments from state properties. The governor visited Los Angeles last week, encouraging local municipalities to do the same and threatening to withhold funding from cities that don't act.
"Do your job. There's no more excuses," Newsom said last week. "You've got the money, you've got the flexibility, you've got the green light, you've got the support from the state and the public is demanding it of you."
This week, the Long Beach city manager's office released an 11-page report spelling out how the city plans to go about eliminating problematic homeless encampments .
That report suggests issuing citations and even arresting people who refuse to leave encampments, something Richardson says will only happen in the most extreme situations.
"Our strategy is not to arrest our way out of this crisis," the mayor told Eyewitness News. "We're going to continue to lead with compassion, we're going to going to continue to invest in services, invest in housing and in outreach."
The city's plan would include advance notice to encampments before they are slated to be removed. The city is also trying to find more available resources to house the homeless, so that the residents don't just pop up in another part of the city.
"Our goal to be clear is to eliminate homelessness and have safe and clean communities," Richardson said. "It isn't to pass the buck to other jurisdictions or to the seams of our city."
