Santa Monica leaders are considering potentially banning sleeping in public spaces as a way to combat homelessness.
At a city council meeting Tuesday, councilmembers discussed measures to take to clean homeless encampments. Local leaders are considering three proposals that essentially include:
- Keeping things as they are
- Observing how other cities are cleaning homeless encampments
- Making sleeping in public with sleeping bags and blankets illegal.
The topic comes after a Supreme Court ruling in June stated that cities can enforce bans to prevent people from sleeping in public, and after Gov. Gavin Newsom in July issued an executive order to remove homeless encampments in the state.
Advocates for the unhoused argue that illegalizing sleeping in public criminalizes homelessness and does nothing to remedy the issue. Business owners, however, said it would help the community to have public parks and beaches clean.
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, the city council was slated to hear public comment on the matter and then take a vote. City leaders have not outlined how they would enforce the measure if they vote on banning public sleeping.
