Homeless encampments grow on Playa del Rey beaches; locals say there's little to no enforcement

Homeless encampments pop up on SoCal beaches

More and more homeless people are moving to the beaches in Playa Del Rey. While the Supreme Court has said states can clear these encampments, more seem to be popping up.

LOS ANGELES - While officials in parts of Southern California have started using their new power — granted both by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Supreme Court — to clear out homeless encampments, camps on the beach in Playa del Rey are now quickly growing. Locals say there's very little enforcement, and they're not happy about it.

"Encampments are huge now," said Lucy Han, founder of the nonprofit Friends of the Jungle. "They're probably three tents long, so it's basically a house right on the beach."

Along with the tents come trash, drugs and even illegal fires which gusty onshore winds could carry to the bone-dry bluff.

"The unhoused, they're pretty aggressive," said Han. "There's one that's on the side of the bluff, and they throw rocks at people. We've seen needles."

Several people have also taken over an abandoned house along the beach, and have lived there for several years.

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In June, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to approve a measure that allows cities to punish people for sleeping outside. In July, Newsom signed an executive order for the removal of homeless encampments in California. Since that order, the Governor has also vowed to start taking state funding away from cities and counties that are not doing enough to move people out of encampments and into shelter.

At the beach, Han said, there's little enforcement because the State, County and City are all involved. "So, everyone's pointing fingers at each other on who gets the responsibility to enforce and prohibit the encampments from forming on the beach," she said.

Katherine Seigmeth is a Playa del Rey resident. While she says she has "a lot of compassion and empathy" for the homeless, "I don't know what the answer is to this… I'm also confused because I know the state of California has allocated over $3 billion for the homeless, and where has that money gone and what have they done with that?"

Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park has been vocal about encampments in her District since Newsom's executive order, already identifying several encampments in Pacific Palisades and Del Rey that she's asked the state to clear.

She tells FOX 11 she's also reached out to the state. In a statement to FOX 11, Park said "Our beaches are jurisdictionally complex, involving the State, County and City. The area is scheduled for a coordinated operation on Thursday morning, including our Coastal CARE+ Team — a new resource we secured for our beach and coastal communities in our City budget. I've called upon the State and the County to step up and provide long-term solutions rather than band-aids for addressing this and other State and County-owned or maintained sites throughout CD11."

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