Venice Beach homeless camp is FINALLY being cleared after months of mayhem and misery for residents

City crews are finally clearing a homeless camp in Venice beach that has plagued the area for months.

Los Angeles sanitation workers spent several hours every morning this week working to clear the camp along Ocean Front Walk, accompanied by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department.

The workers were forced to carry out the cleanup during the early hours under cover of darkness to avoid attention from activists and media outlets.  

The homeless encampments have become a virtual tent city in recent years with violent crime and rampant drug use, pushing tourists and families out. 

Most of the camp has now been cleared, but some tents and semipermanent structures still remain in the northern section. 

Los Angeles sanitation workers spent several hours every morning this week working to clear the camp along Ocean Front Walk

Workers from St. Joseph Center housing association and Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority offered shelter to the homeless people, many of whom refused to leave and required hours of negotiation before budging

Workers from St. Joseph Center housing association and Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority offered shelter to the homeless people, many of whom refused to leave and required hours of negotiation before budging

The homeless encampments have become a virtual tent city in recent years with violent crime and rampant drug use, pushing tourists and families out

The homeless encampments have become a virtual tent city in recent years with violent crime and rampant drug use, pushing tourists and families out

Workers from St. Joseph Center housing association and Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority offered shelter to the homeless people, many of whom refused to leave and required hours of negotiation before budging.

Homelessness has been a growing concern in Los Angeles in recent years, but the fallout of the pandemic triggered a wave of homelessness that has resulted in hundreds of tents and makeshift encampments lining the sidewalks and parks of Venice beach.

The cleanup of the homeless encampment comes just days after the Los Angeles City Council voted to draft rules prohibiting people from sleeping specific distances from some public areas.

The measure requires a second vote in late July, and instructs that homeless people must not be arrested during the rehousing scheme unless a crime is committed, in an attempt to take a more humanitarian approach to the problem. 

The council also allocated $5 million for interim housing on a path to permanent housing for about 200 people in the encampment, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

The cleanup of the homeless encampment comes just days after the Los Angeles City Council voted to draft rules prohibiting people from sleeping specific distances from some public areas

The cleanup of the homeless encampment comes just days after the Los Angeles City Council voted to draft rules prohibiting people from sleeping specific distances from some public areas

The measure requires a second vote in late July, and instructs that homeless people must not be arrested during the rehousing scheme unless a crime is committed, in an attempt to take a more humanitarian approach to the problem

The measure requires a second vote in late July, and instructs that homeless people must not be arrested during the rehousing scheme unless a crime is committed, in an attempt to take a more humanitarian approach to the problem

The cleanup efforts began last week in an attempt to clear the beach for Independence Day weekend

The cleanup efforts began last week in an attempt to clear the beach for Independence Day weekend

The cleanup efforts began last week in an attempt to clear the beach for Independence Day weekend, amid violent crimes both against the homeless and within the homeless community in the area.

A viral video showed a homeless man on Venice beach being beaten and kicked by two people with no intervention, while just one week before a homeless man was found dead in his tent, leading to the arrest of another homeless man in connection with the killing.  

Fox News reported that Venice had a 132% increase in assaults in which a homeless person was a suspect in 2021 and a 126% increase in cases in which a homeless person was a victim as of the end of May.

Meanwhile, robberies in which a homeless person was the victim increased by 1,100% while robberies in which homeless person was a suspect increased by 160%.

Felony arrests in the area have increased by 81% so far this year, while homeless has doubled to around 15,000 in the past five years. 

The man was attacked by two women who alleged he had touched their breasts

The man was attacked by two women who alleged he had touched their breasts

Bystanders are seen walking past the incident while taking out their phones, though none of them appear to intervene

Bystanders are seen walking past the incident while taking out their phones, though none of them appear to intervene

 ‘(Residents) want to be able to use their parks and their sidewalks and their libraries,’ Councilman Paul Krekorian, who coauthored the measure restricting the locations of homeless camps, told the LA Times.

‘They want to be able to go into the entrance of their business. They want to be able to know that when they pull into a parking lot, they don’t have to worry about running someone over when they’re going through the driveway.’

However critics slammed the move as ‘reckless’, and demanded to know where the homeless people were expected to go after they were moved on from their current camps. 

The measure is being billed as a humane approach to get people off streets and restore access to public spaces, and it wouldn’t be enforced until someone has turned down an offer of shelter.

It would severely limit the number of places where homeless encampments have been allowed to grow and become a common sight across the city.

‘There are right ways and wrong ways to disrupt the status quo and improve conditions on the street,’ Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, coauthor of the measure, said in a statement.

‘I am governed by a fundamental position: Before the unhoused are restricted from occupying public space, they should be offered a suitable alternative for housing.’

'(Residents) want to be able to use their parks and their sidewalks and their libraries,' Councilman Paul Krekorian, who coauthored the measure restricting the locations of homeless camps, told the LA Times

‘(Residents) want to be able to use their parks and their sidewalks and their libraries,’ Councilman Paul Krekorian, who coauthored the measure restricting the locations of homeless camps, told the LA Times

The measure is being billed as a humane approach to get people off streets and restore access to public spaces, and it wouldn't be enforced until someone has turned down an offer of shelter

The measure is being billed as a humane approach to get people off streets and restore access to public spaces, and it wouldn’t be enforced until someone has turned down an offer of shelter

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk