City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: January 28, 2025
Agenda Item: 16.K
1 of 1
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Nikima Newsome, City Clerk, Records and Election Services Department Subject: 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.
Prepared By: Nikima Newsome, City Clerk
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. 20250128 16 Item - Amending SMMC Prohibitions on Certain Comfort Items for Unhoused Individuals - Hall Snell Torosis
B. Written Comments
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.
62 # # #
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1 David Yakobson
From: Genise Schnitman <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2025 9:28 PM
To: Lana Negrete; Caroline Torosis; Dan Hall; Jesse Zwick; Barry Snell; Ellis Raskin; Natalya Zernitskaya; councilmtgitems
Subject: 16 item regarding amendment of Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.095 prohibiting certain comfort items for unhoused individuals.
EXTERNAL
I write to express my utmost support for the proposed recission of the cruel and pointless decision by the former Council to prohibit the possession and use by unhoused persons of "sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and/or bedrolls while sleeping” on our Santa Monica streets.
To deny fellow human beings the use of these simple, basic, and meager comfort items is simply mean, punitive, and a breach of the most fundamental sense of compassion and decency. I am gratified to see this step in the direction of restoring the kind of informed, thoughtful, and empirically validated policymaking for which Santa Monica had developed a proud reputation over decades and that was betrayed when that disgraceful decision was taken.
I urge every member of this Council to vote yes on the 16 item brought by Councilmembers Torosis, Hall, and Snell that directs the City Attorney to return with an ordinance amending Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.095 prohibiting certain comfort items for unhoused individuals.
Thank you,
Genise Schnitman,
fortunately housed in this fortunate city for forty years (since August, 1984) Item 16-K
January 28, 2025
Item 16-K
January 28, 2025
1 David Yakobson
From: Cynthia Rose <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2025 10:59 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox; Lana Negrete; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Ellis Raskin; Barry Snell; Natalya Zernitskaya; Dan Hall
Cc: David White; [email protected]; Santa Monica Forward Subject: Support for Agenda Items 16k and 16N
Attachments: 2025-01 CC Support items 16K and 16N SaMoSSA-SMF.pdf
EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor Negrete, Mayor Pro Tem Torosis and City Council members, Please find a joint support letter for agenda items 16K and 16N from the Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance and Santa Monica Forward.
With sincere appreciation,
Cynthia Rose, Cris Gutierrez, Brad Ewing & Carl Hansen
--
Cynthia Rose and Cris Gutierrez
Co-Chairs
Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance
SaMoSafeStreets.org
I acknowledge with respect and gratitude the Tongva, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples on whose traditional territory I live and work.
Item 16-K
January 28, 2025
Item 16-K
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January 27, 2024
RE: Support for Agenda Items 16K and 16N
Dear Mayor Negrete, Mayor Pro Tem Torosis and City Council members:
The Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance and Santa Monica Forward would like to express our full support for the following items:
Support item 16K to undo the previous harm that criminalized homelessness and targeted our most vulnerable with the abject cruelty of taking warmth and basic comfort from folks without a home by adding the mere existence of “sleeping bags, or bedrolls” to the description of an encampment to section 1A. We applaud the proposed updated ordinance for section 1.1 to remove reference to “sleeping bags” and “bedrolls.” We also appreciate the renewed compassion of adding to section 1D “This ordinance does not prohibit those who are unhoused or homeless from using sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and/or bedrolls while sleeping.” to the existing no camping ordinance. These updates better represent who we are in Santa Monica. Thank you.
Support item 16N: With the ongoing housing crisis we thank Council for taking leadership to facilitate diverse housing choices in the City of Santa Monica - specifically proposing an ordinance to amend the City’s regulations governing ministerial approval for certain lot splits and duplexes on parcels zoned for single-unit residential in the highest opportunity areas. In this current housing crisis we applaud our leadership for proposing to “removing the owner-occupancy requirement for lot splits and duplexes and clarifying that vacant or demolished parcels, as well as lots with approved demolition permits, are eligible for lot splits and duplexes” and for ensuring that no standards within the ordinance or the underlying zoning district shall preclude the construction of 2 units, not including ADUs. Thank you
Thank you, City Council, for being leaders with intelligence, responsibility and a heart as you solve problems. We support and thank you for the proposed items 16K and 16N, and for leading responsibly and honorably.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Rose Cris Gutierrez
Co-Chair, Santa Monica Safe Street Alliance Co-Chair, Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance SaMoSafeStreets.org
Brad Ewing and Carl Hansen
Co-chairs, Santa Monica Forward
Item 16-K
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2 David Yakobson
From: Dustin Shahan <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2025 9:24 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Support Item 16K
EXTERNAL
Good evening council,
Please support item 16K. Sleeping bags and pillows are not a threat to anyone in this city, and if that's an individual's only crime the police have better things to do. There are plenty of other reasons to justify intervening for issues that are actually impacting public safety.
Dustin Shahan
90401
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1 David Yakobson
From: Santa Monica Democratic Club <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 27, 2025 1:28 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Lana Negrete; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Dan Hall; Ellis Raskin; Barry Snell; Natalya Zernitskaya
Subject: Item 16K - SUPPORT
Attachments: Jan 28 Letter to Council SUPPORT 16K.pdf
EXTERNAL
Please see attached letter from the Santa Monica Democratic Club Executive Board regarding Item 16K of the January 28, 2025, City Council meeting.
Item 16-K
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President
Jon Katz
VP Political Action
Derek Devermont
VP Membership
Michael Soloff
VP Programs
Sam Cozolino
VP Communications
Susan Sheu
VP Diversity & Inclusion
Keith Coleman
VP Legislation
Isabel Storey
Treasurer
Luis Barrera Castañón
Recording Secretary
Lynn Cervini
At-Large
Patricia Hoffman
Dolores Sloan
January 27, 2025
Mayor Negrete, Mayor Pro Tempore Torosis, and City Councilmembers:
Last September, the Santa Monica Democratic Club wrote to the previous council, asking them to oppose the proposed ordinance which criminalizes homelessness by outlawing personal items such as pillows and blankets. This draconian policy does nothing to prevent homelessness or public camping. Instead, it creates a new burden on those experiencing hardship. With the unfortunate passage of this ordinance, we are now asking the least fortunate among us to exacerbate their situation even further.
This deeply misguided decision by the former council was not well regarded by the Santa Monica voters, who made the treatment of our unhoused community one of the top issues of the election. And their voice was clear: we reject this cruel ordinance and expect a higher standard of treatment for our community.
We are grateful to Councilmembers Hall, Snell, and Mayor Pro Tempore Torosis for this opportunity to reconsider this backward policy. We should all agree that a focus on real long-term solutions for our unhoused population is a better way to engage on the serious regional issue of homelessness than to make life so intolerable as to scare these people away. Whether they are on the streets of Santa Monica or we pursue a policy of pushing them just on the other side of the border in Los Angeles, they are here and a part of our community.
This is a scary time for so many vulnerable communities given the early actions by the new presidential administration. Santa Monica has an opportunity to show the world who we are. Let’s be that beacon of hope that we aspire to. Vote Yes on 16K.
Sincerely,
President, Santa Monica Democratic Club
On Behalf of the Executive Board
P.O. Box 1052 • Santa Monica,CA 90406 • 215-962-4357 • [email protected] Item 16-K
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1 David Yakobson
From: Caro Vilain <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2025 11:00 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: I support item 16K
EXTERNAL
Dear council,
I strongly support item 16K.
It has been clear from the day it was proposed that this ordinance doesn't accomplish anything that improves lives in our community. It does nothing to combat the housing crisis and only harms people who are already in an extremely vulnerable situation.
A person who's experiencing homelessness and currently going through the system to become housed recently spent the night outside of my apartment building because they didn't make it into a shelter that night. Since they didn't have a blanket or sleeping bag, they used trash bags filled with recyclables to stay warm. I fail to see how forcing more people to do the same will help anyone. As if sleeping on the street wasn't terrible enough, making it illegal to stay warm when one does so can only aggravate people's mental and physical health. We can do better.
Thank you for this item. This is why people voted for you. I support item 16K.
Caro Vilain, 90404
Item 16-K
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Item 16-K
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