Los Angeles Could Broaden Homeless Sleeping Prohibition to a Quarter of the City

"A plan under consideration at City Hall would ban sleeping on streets and sidewalks within 500 feet of schools, parks, day-care facilities and some popular venues, eliminating at least a quarter of Los Angeles for homeless people trying to bed down at night," according to an L.A. Times feature by Matt Stiles, Ryan Menezes, and Emily Alpert Reyes.

The article includes an interactive map to illustrate the scope of the law, created by analysis performed by the L.A. Times team. In the whole city, there are 836 parks, 1,482 public and private schools, 1,161 day-care centers, nine special venues, and 43 homeless services that would be subject to a 500-foot buffer if the law is approved.

"Taken together, the buffers cover 124 square miles, about a quarter of the city," according to the article. "The estimate almost certainly understates the proposal's full potential."

The map allows analysis in the aggregate as well as at the neighborhood level. The article provides case studies in Venice, Hollywood, Koreatown, Downtown, Skid Row, and more.

If approved, the law would be the latest legal setback for the rights of the homeless to sleep on the streets. Los Angeles recently prohibited sleeping in cars, vans, and RVs, for instance.