Meeting: January 28, 2024
1 16 ITEM BY COUNCILMEMBERS DAN HALL, BARRY SNELL, AND MAYOR PRO 2 TEMPORE CAROLINE TOROSIS
3 Request of Councilmembers Hall, Snell, and Mayor Pro Tempore Torosis for 4 Council to direct the City Attorney to return with an ordinance that amends Santa 5 Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.095 prohibiting certain comfort items for 6 unhoused individuals.
7 On September 10, 2024, the Santa Monica City Council amended Section 8 4.08.095 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code to implement a ban on the use of sleeping 9 bags and bedrolls by unhoused individuals sleeping in public spaces. This overturned a 10 previous Council’s decision in 2022 to allow the use of such items in light of the Ninth 11 Circuit Court of Appeal’s Martin v. Boise decision, which the 2024 ruling in Grants Pass 12 v. Johnson ruling overturned.
13 From the meeting’s City Staff Report: “In Grants Pass v. Johnson, the U.S. 14 Supreme Court held that regulating camping on public property does not constitute “cruel 15 and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The decision reversed 16 the holding of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that camping prohibitions 17 were ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ if a person was ‘involuntarily’ homeless. The 18 Supreme Court held that legislative bodies, rather than courts, are the appropriate 19 decision maker when determining criminal regulations and penalties for camping in public. 20 The Court acknowledged legislative bodies have broad discretion in this regard. However, 21 the Court also acknowledged that a number of Constitutional and common law protections 22 still apply, for example competency to stand trial, a ‘necessity defense,’ due process, and 23 equal protection, among others. These protections ensure that everyone must be treated 24 equally. Whether someone falls asleep while sunbathing, a homeless person falls asleep 25 in a park during the day, or a backpacker falls asleep while passing through, under the 26 Constitution they must be treated equally…
27 The report concludes: “Even if sleeping on public property could be completely 28 outlawed, it will not end. Even if it is legally prohibited, resources must be available and 29 there must be the will to cite or arrest, prosecute, then despite zero bail and even if a case 30 makes it to court and the defendant appears, and a jury were to convict, there certainly 31 are not resources nor the will to hold those convicted of low level crimes such as sleeping 32 in public in the County jail. Until there are substantially greater resources available for 33 mental health treatment, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and housing 34 (shelter, transitional, and/or permanent housing), as people necessarily must sleep 35 somewhere, the issue will not be resolved by this Court decision. One consideration, 36 though, is that the legal process might assist in encouraging people to take advantage of 37 available resources, but current laws do not allow people to be forced to accept shelter, 38 and people can decline to accept shelter.”
16 ITEM BY COUNCILMEMBERS DAN HALL, BARRY SNELL, AND MAYOR PRO TEMPORE
CAROLINE TOROSIS
Amending SMMC Prohibitions on Certain Comfort Items for Unhoused Individuals
39 We find that a ban on sleeping bags and bedrolls to be an inappropriate conflation 40 of comfort items with “encampments,” an ineffective tool to combat the chronic issue of 41 homelessness, and against the values we hold as a community of treating our unhoused 42 neighbors with compassion, dignity, and respect. Implementing measures with the intent 43 of making our city inhospitable to fellow human beings in an attempt to force them to seek 44 shelter in Los Angeles does not solve our homelessness crisis, invites Los Angeles and 45 neighboring cities to do the same to us, and merely perpetuates the shell game the Los 46 Angeles region has played with our unhoused population for decades. 47 Our goal as City leaders is to entice unhoused individuals into housing and 48 services for long term stability and ensuring a clean and safe Santa Monica for our 49 residents, visitors, property owners, and businesses. 50 WE THEREFORE MOVE THAT THE COUNCIL:
51 1. Direct the City Attorney to return to Council with an ordinance that:
52 1.1. Amends Santa Monica Municipal Code (SMMC) Section 4.08.095, 53 Paragraph (b), Subparagraph (2) to remove reference to “sleeping bags” 54 and “bedrolls.”
55 1.2. Adds the following as Paragraph (d) to the same Section: “This ordinance 56 does not prohibit those who are unhoused or homeless from using sleeping 57 bags, blankets, pillows, and/or bedrolls while sleeping.” 58 2. Direct the City Manager to make any appropriate and necessary changes to 59 comply with the above direction, including an immediate deprioritization of 60 enforcement of the current ban on sleeping bags and bedrolls until the ordinance 61 is fully amended.
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