In Los Angeles, sanitation sweeps of unhoused encampments are a daily occurrence, causing significant distress for residents who must relocate their belongings multiple times a day. This laborious process becomes even more challenging during extreme weather conditions, prompting advocacy for better protections under such circumstances.
While protocols exist to pause evictions during cold or rainy weather, no such guidelines are in place for extreme heat. Recently, Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez introduced a motion aimed at addressing this gap, providing urgency particularly during record-breaking heatwaves or emergencies involving dangerous air quality, such as catastrophic fires that have smothered the city in toxic smoke.
One critical aspect of Hernandez’s motion is to improve communication with unhoused residents about canceled sweeps, allowing them to seek shade and shelter without the fear of losing their belongings. Advocates argue this measure could rectify a double standard in how the city engages with housed versus unhoused Angelenos during emergencies.
Shayla Myers, an attorney with the Unhoused People’s Justice Project at LAFLA (Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles), highlights the disparity: “Housed folks are consistently advised to stay indoors and avoid exertion during extreme weather, yet the city conducts invasive cleanup operations during these same conditions for unhoused individuals.”
The city’s temporary encampment eviction program known as CARE+ (Cleaning And Rapid Engagement) has been heavily criticized for its approach to managing these sweeps. Councilmembers have significant discretion over how and when such operations are initiated, leading to accusations of ineffectiveness and cruelty toward the unhoused.
Critics, including Myers, argue that these sweeps merely perpetuate trauma among vulnerable populations without addressing the supposed public health and safety issues cited by the city. She states, “Sweeps put people in jeopardy; they harm and traumatize, failing to adequately resolve the health and safety concerns claimed by the city.”
On the day of the sweeps, caregivers instruct residents with a mere ten minutes to relocate their possessions, often assisted only by large trash bags. Many are left scrambling to transport their belongings to safety using whatever means available to them—skateboards, shopping carts, or even their feet, emphasizing the level of desperation and stress involved.
Escaping such operations poses severe consequences for those with existing medical conditions, such as Sherin Varghese’s experience seeing someone refuse medical care during an asthma attack for fear of losing his possessions during a sweep. Ej, a musician with asthma, recalls feeling helpless during a sweep when he was already sick with pneumonia, only to face the loss of medication he desperately needed.
Stories like Ej’s are all too common, as advocates document numerous instances of essential items, including tents and personal mementos, being discarded in the chaos of these sweeps. An ongoing civil rights lawsuit against the city has revealed instances of fabricated city records, further complicating the narrative surrounding property seizures during these operations.
Despite years of advocacy from the unhoused community and supporters pushing for a shift in approach from punitive sweeps to supportive services, progress remains slow. Myers and other advocates note that successful refuse collection and hygiene services exist without accompanying forced evictions, yielding more positive results within these communities.
A pivotal moment occurred during a heatwave in September 2024, where temperatures soared past 100 degrees. Despite the extreme conditions prompting advisories for housed residents to avoid strenuous activity, CARE+ sweeps were still executed across multiple sites, raising alarm among advocates concerned for the health of those affected.
As the heat took hold, organizers, including Jamie Feiler, began reaching out to local councilmembers urging for the sweeps to be canceled, highlighting the potential dangers posed by mandating the faster movement of belongings in such heat. Unfortunately, their appeals often fell on deaf ears, leading many residents to continue hazardous labor under oppressive conditions.
Even when city officials claimed that CARE+ operations were scheduled to begin in the cooler morning hours, unpredictable timing often left residents unprepared. As Varghese notes, there’s often no way of knowing when a sweep will actually start, forcing residents to choose between risking their health or their belongings.
Advocates like Ndindi Kitonga work tirelessly to offer crucial resources during heat events, yet residents often hesitate to leave their valuables unattended. Even as city cooling centers become available, the logistical barriers — distance, lack of information, and fear of losing personal property — impede access.
Amid heightened tensions and frustration, legal advocates from LAFLA contemplated a more formal response, threatening to file a lawsuit if the city did not take immediate action to cancel the ongoing sweeps during the ongoing heat wave. This pressure from the legal community finally prompted a concession from city officials, downgrading the sweeps from comprehensive evictions to mere spot cleaning by the end of that week.
However, while adjustments to the seal of approval for sweeps might have been made, a glaring deficiency remained; notification regarding the operation changes was relegated to a single post on LA Sanitation’s Instagram. This highlighted the city’s failure to establish effective communication channels between authorities and those most affected by such measures.
City protocols for halting sweeps revolve largely around rain or temperatures below 50 degrees, leading to confusion as residents often recount experiences contradicting the official narrative. They report that the presence of weather doesn’t necessarily halt the sweeps, indicating a grim inconsistency in treatment.
Additionally, during the severe wildfires threatening communities across Los Angeles, CARE+ operations remained intact, obfuscating the city’s priorities and their treatment of unhoused individuals amidst such crises. A lack of awareness around these operations further complicates matters, as evacuees faced harassment while preparing their belongings under dangerous air conditions.
In October, Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez proposed a motion advocating for protective measures against sweeps during extreme weather conditions, drawing from learned experiences during the past emergencies.
This measure would instate citywide protocols to automatically downgrade sweeps during adverse weather events as deemed necessary by agencies like the National Weather Service or LAHSA.
Hernandez’s proposed guidelines would allow unhoused individuals to prioritize their safety in extreme conditions without the burden of worrying about the security of their belongings. Her office noted the inconsistencies across council districts, emphasizing a need for uniformity in enforcement practices during extreme weather.
Despite these efforts, advocates recognize hurdles remaining in the path towards successful passage of this motion, with many councilmembers typically resistant to changes that would diminish the use of sweeps as a primary tool to address encampments. Varghese fears that the prevailing mindset of treating sweeps as the only recourse reflects a dismal lack of imagination among some city officials.
As progress stalls in hearings and committee discussions, advocates are urging community members to appeal directly to their representatives to support Hernandez’s motion. The hope is that sustained advocacy will bring guidelines that prompt more humane handling of encampments during extreme weather conditions, fulfilling a programmatic need that has become increasingly apparent as Los Angeles faces ongoing challenges surrounding homelessness.
Organizations and advocates across the city continue to call for real change, focusing on the fundamental notion that unhoused residents deserve the same considerations as housed individuals during emergencies. As the threat of climate change looms large, it becomes essential for cities to develop methodologies that respect the humanity and rights of all residents, especially the most vulnerable.
Ultimately, Hernandez’s motion reflects a critical negotiation between the city’s existing practices and the urgent need for reform necessary to address the homeless crisis in an ethically responsible manner.
image source from：https://knock-la.com/fires-heat-waves-dont-stop-harmful-sweeps/
