LA County workers and local law enforcement clear homeless encampment at Dockweiler State Beach

SEATTLE - Following Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order to remove homeless encampments in the state, county workers and local law enforcement in Los Angeles cleared a homeless encampment on Aug. 22 located at the Dockweiler State Beach, which is just a few miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport.

The cleanup operation was organized by LA City Councilmember Traci Park along with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority despite a pushback from Mayor Karen Bass and LA County officials, who argue that criminalizing homelessness or simply clearing encampments without offering services or shelter does not work.

Information on how many people lived in the Dockweiler State Beach encampment or what type of services were offered to those displaced by the cleanup was not immediately available, but officials estimate between 50 and 60 people were told to stop camping in the area.

Residents of the area said the number of tents on the beach had increased over the past few months. Lucy Han, co-founder of Friends of the Jungle, a nonprofit that works to address issues in the Playa del Rey community, said people living in tents brought needles to the beach, started fires and left feces in the area.

Before the operation on Aug. 22, Los Angeles city park rangers were seen posting cleanup notices around the area a day prior.

According to data from January of 2024, more than 75,000 people were homeless on any given night across LA County, and across the entire state of California, that number jumps to more than 170,000.

Last week, officials in Long Beach began working to identify encampments that pose a public threat or block access to public services. The first Long Beach homeless encampment to be cleared out was Gumbiner Park, while city staff has plans to clear out Veterans Park and Jenni Rivera Park next.

As reported by The Latin Times last month, Gov Newsom issued an executive order to remove homeless encampments in the state, which holds a third of all the country's people who live under these circumstances.

The order follows a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping in public spaces. Enforcement continues to be on local authorities, but with his executive order, Newsom can put pressure on them through different measures including withholding funds from counties and cities.

Newsom has said his administration spent about $24 billion on the issue, but acknowledged it has persisted nonetheless, The Associated Press reported. He has also been criticized after an audit determined that the state didn't consistently tracked whether the funds helped to improve the situation.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Gov. Newsom was seen taking action into his own hands by helping clean up a homeless encampment in Mission Hills. "I am here in behalf of 40 million Californians that are fed up," Newsom said to the media. "I want to see results, I do not want to read about them."