A homeless encampment that neighbors said had been growing at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa Vista was taken down on Thursday, city officials said.
The encampment was occupying a large slice of the beach’s four-mile shoreline next to Los Angeles International Airport, nearby residents said, and had been ignored by state and local government officials even as its problems grew more noticeable in recent weeks.
The cleanup arrives more than a month after Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to take away state funding from counties that don’t show improvement on tackling the homelessness crisis.
Dockweiler State Beach sits under the LAX flight path and is in an unusual jurisdictional position — it is part of California’s state park system, its custodial maintenance and lifeguard services are managed by Los Angeles County, and, through an agreement with the county, policing and code enforcement are handled by the city of Los Angeles, according to a county spokesperson.
This has proven to be a sore issue for Playa Vista residents who claim that none of the local agencies have taken the initiative to address the encampment.
“It’s a little confusing, but everyone’s pointing the finger,” resident and founder of the nonprofit Friends of the Jungle Lucy Hun told KABC-TV about beach management.
Garbage, campfires, hypodermic needles and feces litter the beach, Hun said.
Information on how many people lived in the Dockweiler State Beach encampment or what type of services were offered to those who were displaced by the cleanup was not immediately available. Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park, whose office organized the cleanup, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday morning.
While neighbors said the growing encampment posed health and safety risks for those looking to use the beach, L.A.’s Westside saw a nearly 20% decrease of people experiencing homelessness, according to the latest data from the L.A. County Homeless Services Authority.
Still, the issue of people living on the streets persists as home prices rise and not enough new homes are built.
In June, a Supreme Court ruling offered clarity about how cities and local governments can enforce laws restricting people from sleeping or camping in public spaces. The court decision said it was not “cruel and unusual” punishment to forbid a person from sleeping on the streets or in parks, even if there was no adequate shelter space available.
That ruling has resulted in a more proactive approach from local governments.
In Long Beach, city staff are working to identify encampments that pose a public threat or block access to public services. They are in the process of targeting encampments where people have repeatedly declined to accept services from the city.