Long Beach will use the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass ruling to clean up homeless encampments

Long Beach will join a growing list of California cities that say they will pay homeless people for camping or sleeping in public, following a recent Supreme Court decision.

Until recently, cities across the country were barred from citing, fining or arresting homeless people for camping if no city-provided shelters were available. That all changed when the US Supreme Court struck down those legal protections in the Grants Pass decision.

Now, according to a recent grade by city officials, Long Beach will use that authority to enforce its anti-camping ordinances, especially encampments, if people refuse services or housing. This means the police can issue a citation for criminal trespass to anyone sleeping in public, which is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

What does this mean for Long Beach?

There are 3,376 people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach in January, according to city data from 2024. counting the point in time. More than two-thirds were homeless, including people living in cars, caravans and tents.

City public works crews have responded to 3,200 encampments in the past year, according to the notice. Long Beach has an inventory of about 1,300 shelter beds, which is only enough to house about 38 percent of its homeless population.

Generally, the city will respond to people experiencing homelessness through outreach and service, but misdemeanor citations may be issued under the city’s anti-encampment ordinance if repeated attempts are denied.

Individuals or camps that may be in physical danger may also be cited, including those in unsafe vacant structures or storm risk areas. Police and fire departments can also use subpoenas to “force” encampments to move to safer areas, according to the memo.

City officials wrote that they will identify encampments that have already been provided with services and shelters, those that cause significant access problems for public space or resources, or that pose significant public health or safety concerns.

From there, its cross-departmental homelessness team will focus on “intensive outreach” and notify people who need to move out of the area. The city can issue citations for misdemeanors in priority areas of concern if those outreach opportunities don’t work.

“If every location is a priority, no area is a priority, and the team will be ineffective in its response,” Teresa Chandler, deputy city manager, wrote in the memo.

Potential disadvantages

Long Beach officials say the penalty for a camping offense would typically result in a fine, adding that significant jail time is unlikely. According to the memo, those sanctions “do little to reduce overall rates of homelessness and could create additional barriers for people to access housing and services.”

Eve Garrow, a policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, told LAist that if every city engages in displacing tactics, no one wins.

“(That’s because we’re not actually investing in the housing and services that we need to solve the problem,” Garrow said, “That’s the real problem. Blaming people for being resistant to services, for not accepting services when those services are either inefficient, inhumane, or unavailable, it is the ultimate form of gaslighting.”

Long Beach officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What’s next

The approach begins this month unless the mayor or City Council provides additional direction. But the memo noted that anti-camping ordinances could still be vulnerable to legal challenges, especially “if the only enforcement mechanism is the issuance of criminal penalties.”

City officials will review the plan and its effects over the next six months. Officials will also work to identify additional resources, including more funds for motel or shelter vouchers, expanding permanent housing resources and additional staff.

“We ask that everyone understand the complexity of this most difficult societal issue and hope that this new approach will allow for a balanced yet effective response to the city’s most pressing and difficult challenge,” Chandler wrote in the memo.