Los Angeles City Council Votes to Remove Anti-Camping Zones, Reversing Controversial Homelessness Policy

The Los Angeles City Council has officially erased 12 anti-camping zones in Hollywood, voting 10-3 to roll back enforcement areas that previously banned unhoused individuals from sitting or sleeping on designated sidewalks. The move marks the first time the city has dismantled a discretionary zone under its controversial Section 41.18 ordinance.[1][2]

For residents and local businesses, the immediate takeaway is a shift in how street homelessness will be managed in Council District 13. Instead of relying on police sweeps and citations to clear underpasses in Silver Lake, Echo Park, and Hollywood, the district will exclusively rely on service-led outreach and interim housing placements.[1][3]

The resolution was introduced by Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, whose district encompasses the affected neighborhoods. The rollback targets specific high-visibility corridors, including the 101 Freeway overpasses, where unhoused individuals were previously subject to fines or arrest for maintaining encampments.[1][3]

For Soto-Martínez, the vote fulfills a central campaign promise made before he took office in 2022. He unseated the zones' original architect, former Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, following widespread public backlash over the militarized clearing of a massive encampment at Echo Park Lake.[1][4]

Soto-Martínez framed the repeal as a necessary step to prioritize social services over police enforcement. He argued that displacing unhoused individuals through citations and sweeps only exacerbates the crisis by disconnecting them from outreach workers, medical care, and housing pipelines.[1][2]

According to his office, District 13 has seen a 40% drop in homelessness since he took office. Soto-Martínez attributes this decline to expanded interim housing and care-first strategies, arguing that building trust yields better long-term results than pushing people from one block to another.[1][2]

The vote exposed deep ideological divides within the council over how to manage public spaces. Councilmembers Traci Park, Monica Rodriguez, and Imelda Padilla voted against the rollback, defending Section 41.18 as a fundamental tool for managing streets and sidewalks.[1][3]

Park argued that the city has a civic obligation to keep public infrastructure clear and safe for all residents. She has previously pushed to expand the anti-camping policy to cover critical infrastructure, environmentally sensitive areas, and high-severity fire zones.[1][5]

Rodriguez echoed those concerns during the meeting, stating that while the ordinance was never intended to solve the root causes of homelessness, it serves to protect public spaces so families can access parks and pedestrian corridors without exposure to encampments.[3]

The efficacy of the anti-camping law has faced mounting scrutiny in recent months, bolstered by new data on its financial and human costs. A report by the city's Chief Legislative Analyst estimated that enforcing the ordinance cost Los Angeles at least $3 million between September 2021 and December 2023.[1]

Despite that multimillion-dollar investment, the report found that the enforcement resulted in only two unhoused individuals being placed into permanent housing, raising serious questions among council members about the policy's return on investment.[1]

Furthermore, a May 2026 study from the RAND Corporation found that "rough sleeping"—unhoused people sleeping without a tent, vehicle, or shelter—rose 20% to a four-year high in neighborhoods like Hollywood, Skid Row, and Venice. Nearly half of the surveyed individuals reported that their shelters had been confiscated or towed by government workers, fueling renewed activism against the sweeps.[1]

Mutual aid organizations and homeless advocates have long pressured the council to repeal the zones. Earlier this year, activists confronted Soto-Martínez, demanding he act faster to dismantle the enforcement areas and criticizing the four-year timeline it took to finally rescind the Hollywood zones.[2][4]

Despite the rollback in District 13, Section 41.18 remains heavily utilized in other parts of Los Angeles. Just months prior, the council approved 26 new anti-camping zones in the San Fernando Valley by an 11-4 margin, underscoring the city's fragmented, district-by-district approach to the homelessness crisis.[1]