Los Angeles, CA. Special Hearing on LAMC 41.18 report back (Council File 21-0329-S4) Los Angeles Community Action Network

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Dear Councilmember Raman and fellow Committee members:

In April 2023, the Council voted unanimously 13-0 on a motion that asked the Chief Legislative Analyst, in coordination with Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and relevant City Departments including LAPD and Bureau of Sanitation, to report back within 60 days regarding expenditures in the City’s enforcement of Los Angeles Municipal Code 41.18 sec a-e (Council File 21-0329-S4). While this report back is well over 100 days past due, we hope that the City will present their findings soon. We are writing today to urgently ask for a Special Hearing of the Los Angeles City Council for this report back which includes community-based participatory action research and analysis of real-time impacts faced by houseless Angelenos. The Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) and a panel of local and National organizations are requesting to be added to the set of official report backs.

While LA CAN supports true calls for transparency regarding the City’s continued use of enforcement as a “solution” to houselessness, we also recognize that a CLA report back could never include the cost and impact of the City’s enforcement as it is lived and felt by our houseless neighbors. To that end, the Human and Civil Rights Committee at LA CAN worked in partnership with people and organizations from around the city–from Skid Row to Reseda to Leimert Park to San Pedro–to survey houseless neighbors and record their experiences with City departments including LAPD, the Bureau of Sanitation, as well as LAHSA and other service providers. We have organized those survey findings into our forthcoming report, “41.18: Separate and Unequal,” which we look forward to presenting at a Special Hearing.

Our request is rooted in a long-standing City Hall precedent for holding hearings that include presentation of data by stakeholders impacted directly by City policy. We look forward to hearing back on scheduling for this hearing and having the opportunity to lift up and amplify the cost and impact of City policies on those who bear their brunt.

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