Nearby, Walter Lindsey cleared debris from his encampment under a busy freeway overpass. He moved to Culver City from downtown Los Angeles two weeks ago and said he prefers the area’s “relaxed” environment to the “depressing” scenes of skid row.
He now lives behind a makeshift wall of plastic tarps and cardboard boxes near Bradley’s encampment. The two have tasked themselves with sweeping the sidewalk daily to allow for foot traffic and to deter police from complaining about their belongings.
Like Bradley, Lindsey was not aware of the new ordinance and does not have a backup plan should he be asked to relocate.
“I guess I gotta prepare them,” he said of his unhoused neighbors.
“As long as the weather is fine, I’d rather be outside than cooped up inside a shelter,” he said. “It’s too depressing.”
During a heated city council meeting Monday night, officials said the ban would not be enforced until the city meets key goals, including opening a designated camping site where unhoused residents can set up their tents and the conversion of 73 hotel and motel units into permanent and interim housing.
Combined, the two programs would add roughly 100 beds for unhoused people. According to the 2022 homeless count, some 350 people live on the streets of Culver City.
“Continuing to criminalize people for being in poverty, for struggling, has never gotten anyone out of poverty and never will,” said Bryan “Bubba” Fish, who sits on the city’s homeless advisory committee. “And yet, we continue down the same path.”
There is no clear time line for when the housing units would become available, according to the city, and officials have not determined who would be tasked with clearing out the encampments and what enforcement measures, such as fines and arrests, would be used if people refuse to relocate.
“We are putting the cart before the horse,” said Culver City Council member Freddy Puza, who voted against the ordinance. “I’m not trying to…
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