City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: February 25, 2025
Agenda Item: 4.F
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Douglas Sloan, City Attorney, City Attorney's Office, Administration Subject: Introduction and First Reading of an Ordinance Amending Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.095, Prohibition Against Camping in Public Places
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines; and
2. Introduce for First Reading an Ordinance to Amend Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.095, Prohibition Against Camping in Public Places, to omit from the definition of “camp facility” certain items.
Summary
At its January 28, 2025, meeting, the City Council approved the following 16 Item:
Request of Councilmembers Hall, Snell, and Mayor Pro Tempore Torosis for Council to direct the City Attorney to return with an ordinance that amends Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.095 prohibiting certain comfort items for unhoused individuals.
The full text of the 16 Item is attached. (Attachment A) Staff now returns with an ordinance for introduction and first reading consistent with the direction given on January 28, 2025. (Attachment B)
Background
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On September 10, 2024, the City Council introduced for first reading Ordinance Number 2789 (CCS) (Ordinance 2789) to amend Santa Monica Municipal Code (SMMC) Section 4.08.095, Prohibition Against Camping in Public Places, to repeal amendments made by Ordinance Number 2728 (CCS) (Ordinance 2728), adopted on November 15, 2022. Ordinance 2789 was adopted on September 24, 2024.
The November 2022 amendments enacted by Ordinance 2728 were adopted by the City Council in response to judicial guidance from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Johnson v. City of Grants Pass (Grants Pass), which held that it is “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution to prohibit individuals that are “involuntarily” unhoused from sleeping or using blankets, pillows, sleeping bags, cardboard boxes, and other rudimentary protections against the weather on public property, unless shelter space is available. For consistency with the Ninth Circuit’s decision, Ordinance 2728 amended Section 4.08.095 by: 1) removing sleeping bags and bedrolls from the list of items that could be used to determine whether an individual has erected a camp facility for the purpose of living accommodations in a public place in violation of Section 4.08.095; and 2) adding language clarifying that unhoused individuals are not prohibited from using “sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and/or bedrolls while sleeping” per the terms of the 9th Circuit decision.
On June 28, 2024, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in the Grants Pass case, which overturned the Ninth Circuit’s decision. The Supreme Court held that regulating camping on public property does not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The Supreme Court held that legislative bodies, rather than courts, are the appropriate decision maker when determining criminal regulations and penalties for camping in public. The Court acknowledged legislative bodies have broad discretion in this regard. However, the Court also acknowledged that a number of Constitutional and common law protections still apply, for example competency to stand trial, a “necessity defense,” due process, and equal protection, among others. These protections ensure that everyone must be treated equally. Whether someone falls asleep while sunbathing, an unhoused person falls asleep in a park during the day, or a backpacker falls asleep while passing through, 3 of 6
under the Constitution they must be treated equally.
The amendments adopted by Council in September 2024 through Ordinance 2789 repealed the changes made by Ordinance 2728 by: 1) adding sleeping bags and bedrolls to the list of items that could be used to determine whether an individual has erected a camp facility for the purpose of living accommodations in a public place in violation of Section 4.08.095; and 2) removing affirmative language that unhoused individuals are not prohibited from using “sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and/or bedrolls while sleeping”.
Discussion
As discussed in the September 10, 2024, staff report, the amendments made pursuant to Ordinance 2789 were not legally required by, but were consistent with, the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass. Similarly, the proposed amendments to 4.08.095 are not legally required by, but would be consistent with, the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass.
Council direction from January 28, 2025, explains that the Council finds that banning certain comfort items for unhoused individuals is inappropriate and ineffective as follows:
• We find that a ban on sleeping bags and bedrolls to be an inappropriate conflation of comfort items with “encampments,” an ineffective tool to combat the chronic issue of homelessness, and against the values we hold as a community of treating our unhoused neighbors with compassion, dignity, and respect.
Implementing measures with the intent of making our city inhospitable to fellow human beings in an attempt to force them to seek shelter in Los Angeles does not solve our homelessness crisis, invites Los Angeles and neighboring cities to do the same to us, and merely perpetuates the shell game the Los Angeles region has played with our unhoused population for decades. • Our goal as City leaders is to entice unhoused individuals into housing and services for long term stability and ensuring a clean and safe Santa Monica for our residents, visitors, property owners, and businesses. 4 of 6
In accordance with Council direction from January 28, 2025, the attached ordinance would make the following amendments to Section 4.08.095:
4.08.095 Prohibition against camping in public places.
(a) No person shall camp in a prohibited public place.
(b) For the purpose of this Section:
(1) “Camp” means to erect, maintain, or occupy a camp facility for the purpose of living accommodations.
(2) “Camp facility” means the use of, settling, fixing in place, setting up, locating, or leaving behind in a prohibited public place any or a combination of the following: tents, huts, other temporary physical shelters, cots, beds, sleeping bags, or hammocks, or bedrolls. (3) “Prohibited public place” means any of the following: the public parks listed in Section 4.55.020, public beaches, the Santa Monica Municipal Pier, public streets, public alleyways, public parking lots, public passageways, public rights-of-way, publicly-owned landscaped areas or greenbelts, public educational institutions including properties owned by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District or Santa Monica College, or other governmentowned properties located within the City of Santa Monica. (c) The City Council may, by majority vote, establish one or more specified camping areas. Such camping areas, if any, may be located in prohibited public places, except that such camping areas shall not be located within public parks.
On September 10, 2024, Council further gave direction to continue to monitor what other cities are doing and return with additional options on this and related issues, which may include, but not be limited to, examination of opportunities for further amendments to the Municipal Code to address use of public spaces as part of the City’s wholistic approach to addressing homelessness. That work remains ongoing absent further or alternative direction from the City Council. 5 of 6
It should be emphasized that the City’s law enforcement team, the Police Department and the City Attorney’s Office Prosecutors, take a very thoughtful and compassionate approach to interacting with homeless individuals, making best efforts to steer them toward services. Sometimes the path to that interaction is the Camping Ordinance, which may lead to those affected obtaining services voluntarily or eventually through diversion programs like STEP Court. Also, the Municipal Code is not utilized as a means to take away anyone’s blankets or other comfort items.
Environmental Review
This report is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the CEQA Guidelines, which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The proposed ordinance will omit certain comfort items, i.e., sleeping bags and bedrolls, from the definition of “camp facility” for purposes of the City’s prohibition against camping in public spaces. Therefore, it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There is no immediate financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of the proposed actions.
Prepared By: Douglas Sloan, City Attorney
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Council Direction January 28, 2025
B. ORD-CAO-Camping
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C. Written Comments