Officials clear homeless encampment at California state beach

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials cleared a homeless encampment at a California state beach Thursday, a month after Gov. Gavin Newsom directed cities and state agencies to take urgent action against people sleeping in public spaces.

Bright yellow trash trucks rolled onto the sands of Dockweiler State Beach, located behind the Los Angeles International Airport, accompanied by county workers and local law enforcement for the cleanup operation.

The operation was organized by LA City Councilmember Traci Park along with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. The beach is part of California’s state park system, but the county provides its maintenance and lifeguard services while the city handles policing.

Park’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Earlier this summer, Gov. Newsom issued an executive order for state agencies to start removing homeless encampments on public land in his boldest action yet following a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on people sleeping outside. He urged cities and counties to do the same, but they are not legally mandated to do so.

In August, he threatened to take away state funding from cities and counties that are not doing enough to clear encampments as he appeared to work alongside Los Angeles sanitation workers to throw away trash.

Under Newsom’s leadership, the state has spent roughly $24 billion to clean up streets and house people, including at least $3.2 billion in grants given to local governments to build shelters, clear encampments and connect homeless people to services as they see fit, Newsom said.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and LA County officials have pushed back against the governor’s approach, saying that criminalizing homelessness or simply clearing encampments without offering services or shelter does not work. While more than 75,000 people were homeless on any given night across Los Angeles County, according to a tally at the start of the year, there are only about 23,000 emergency shelter beds in the county.

James Kingston, 63, was forced out of the encampment Thursday. He said he lived at the beach because of how many cans and bottles he can collect on the weekends for money.

Like many others, he was unfazed by the clean up crew, since he’s experienced this several times while being homeless over the past six years. Some people left as soon as police showed up, while others watched as officials cordoned off their tents. Shortly before the cleanup, they had received a notice that it would be happening.

“You just grab your important stuff and everything else has got to go,” Kingston said. “You just got to let it go because that’s how it is.”