The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday moved forward with a diluted proposal to study whether homeless encampment sweeps should be paused during environmental disasters. The change came after the original plan, which would have ordered the Sanitation Bureau to stop scheduled cleanups in declared emergency areas, was revised at the last minute by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.
Instead of directing the city to suspend the sweeps, Jurado amended the motion to have the bureau “report back on options” for doing so. The full council approved that version unanimously, and no deadline was set for the report.
Jurado represents Boyle Heights, where residents were recently exposed to thick smoke and a rotting food odor after the Lineage cold-storage warehouse fire. She introduced the proposal after that June fire, arguing that while routine cleanups serve sanitation needs, they can put unhoused people at greater risk during emergencies such as extreme heat, air pollution, smoke and hazardous debris.
Under the original proposal, the Sanitation Bureau would have posted notices in disaster areas saying scheduled cleanups would not take place and would have notified the public through cooling centers, shelters and social media. The council’s action leaves the issue unresolved, even as more than 45,000 people experience homelessness on any given night in Los Angeles, according to the latest city figures.
