A bed offered, the law enforced, the results published every month.
A resident petition to the Santa Monica City Council, the City Manager, the City Attorney and the county: 12 demands, each sent to the official who can act, with a deadline and a cost.
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The plan is to deliver every signature to the City Council in writing and in person at its December 8, 2026 meeting.
Next: send it to two neighbors who live in Santa Monica. Resident signatures are counted separately, and they are the number the council sees first.
What the petition asks
Open 480 city and 75 county beds sized to the street count, enforce the laws already on the books, and publish the results every month.
To the Santa Monica City Council, City Attorney Heidi von Tongeln, City Manager Oliver Chi, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and the LA County Board of Supervisors, District Attorney Nathan Hochman, and our state legislators: Santa Monica police arrest more people than ever, yet the same people return to the same doorways. Cases are diverted and never filed, people are released at $0 bail, court is 12 miles and up to 120 days away, and there are too few beds of every kind. We ask you to restore bedrolls to the camping law and enforce it once a bed is offered; file repeat cases; bring court back to Santa Monica; open 480 city shelter, safe sleeping, safe parking and interim beds by June 2028 and 75 county treatment and locked beds by December 2027; send people home only to a verified family member; and publish the results every month. Give every person a bed and enforce the law, so that living on the street in Santa Monica is no longer an option.
The 12 demands, each to the official who can act
Every demand names one official, one act, a deadline and a cost. Read each demand with its legal authority and sources.
- Restore bedrolls to the camping law and enforce after a bed offer
- Close the doorway and vehicle gaps
- Publish the results every month and tie the emergency to a bed count
- End automatic diversion for repeat cases
- Open 480 city beds and spaces matched to the street count
- Staff the Homeless Liaison Program and serve the warrants
- Send people home only to a verified receiver, and report every trip
- Fund locked beds for SB 43 and treatment slots for the Westside
- Put Westside interim beds back in the county's Measure A plan
- File Prop 36 treatment felonies on every eligible case
- Bring court back to Santa Monica
- Fund the treatment beds the state already mandated
The numbers, with where each one comes from
Plus 59 occupied vehicles and 48 tents or makeshift shelters; 475 outdoors in 2025
Source: santamonica.govCounts 1.7 people per vehicle or tent; preliminary, secondhand
Source: smdp.com462 referrals; about 15% of starters graduated (inference)
Source: santamonica.govUp from 21 days; courthouse 12 miles away (secondhand, City Attorney's criminal chief)
Source: smdp.comQ1 2026, secondhand (Vera Institute)
Source: vera-institute.files.svdcdn.com25,722 yes, 21,739 no; percent is computed
Source: surfsantamonica.comWhy it persists
Police are arresting more than ever fact
Arrests involving homeless people rose from 1,622 in 2024 to 2,465 in 2025, up 52%. Total arrests in 2026 were up 66% year to date at the end of August.
The camping law dropped bedrolls in 2025, and sleeping is legal fact
The current code no longer lists sleeping bags or bedrolls as camping. The city states it does not prohibit sleeping on public property. Which 2025 ordinance removed the bedding, and the vote on it, is not confirmed.
Most cases go to diversion secondhand
Officers warn first. The City Attorney decides whether to file and often routes people to SaMo Bridge, where finishing a 90-day plan means the case is never filed. Year one: 462 referrals, 363 starts, 54 graduates.
Many arrests end in $0 bail cite-and-release fact
Since October 2023 the LA Superior Court's release protocol puts many non-violent offenses on cite-and-release at $0 bail. The 2026 schedule keeps it.
Court is 12 miles away and up to 120 days out secondhand
Santa Monica misdemeanors go to the Airport Courthouse. The City Attorney's criminal chief says bench warrants rose after court dates moved from 21 to 120 days.
Beds of every kind are short fact
The 2026 count found 222 people sheltered and 389 outdoors, plus 59 occupied vehicles and 48 tents. The county said it had no locked treatment beds for SB 43. The DA says the county lacks treatment and mental illness beds. Without an open bed, a defendant can raise a necessity defense under In re Eichorn.
The count is too noisy to prove progress secondhand
Count volunteers fell from 250-300 to about 100 when LAHSA took over in 2024. RAND puts Santa Monica's 2026 total at 793 against the official 718, and calls the population stable since 2017.
What it costs
$14.1M to $19.1M a year gross.
Net new city money: $12.9M to $17.9M a year if the county pays nothing (2.5% to 3.4% of the $525.2M General Fund), or $4.3M to $6.4M if the county funds the 150 non-congregate beds. Low-to-moderate confidence.
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Where this has worked
- Culver CityCamping ban in 2023 opened alongside a safe sleeping site and 73 Homekey units; sheltered people rose from 38 to 164 and unsheltered fell from 51 in 2025 to 38 in 2026. Source: wavepublication.com
- San DiegoDowntown street count fell about 64% from May 2023 to June 2025 after the Unsafe Camping Ordinance and safe sleeping sites; the city auditor found citywide unsheltered homelessness did not fall. Source: sandiego.gov
- New York CityA legal right to shelter keeps about 3.5% of the homeless population unsheltered, against about 66% in LA County. Source: nyc.gov
- HoustonTotal homelessness fell about 63% since 2011 through one coordinated system, but unsheltered rose 15.8% in 2025 when pandemic money ended. Source: houstonpublicmedia.org
- San Antonio, Haven for HopeOne campus at $37.70 per bed night; downtown street count fell from 738 to 254 in year one (Haven's own figures), while the blocks next to the campus grew. Source: havenforhope.org
- Sacramento and FresnoEnforcement rose without matching beds; unsheltered counts rose in both. Source: calmatters.org
- AustinVoters passed a camping ban by 57.7% in 2021; a year later no arrests had been made. A ban without reporting changes little. Source: ballotpedia.org
What happens next
- Oct 2026Petition launches; pledge sent to all 11 council candidates and the AD-51 and SD-24 candidates; records requests filed.
- Oct 19, 2026Registration deadline to vote by mail.
- Nov 3, 2026Election: three council seats, Assembly District 51, Senate District 24.
- Nov 20, 2026County Measure A plan comment closes (demand 9).
- Nov 30, 2026Noon deadline for the councilmember 16-item.
- Dec 8, 2026Petition delivered at City Council; 16-item heard.
- Dec 31, 2026Local homelessness emergency expires unless extended; bed targets go into the extension.
- Jan 2027City Attorney filing policy (Jan 15); police offer logging (Jan 1); reunification rules (Jan 31); Horvath motion (Jan 31).
- Feb 23, 2027Camping, doorway and reporting ordinances adopted; capacity plan to council.
- Mar 31, 2027If the council has not acted, file the initiative; state audit request due.
- Jun 30, 2027210 beds and spaces open; city budget adopted.
- Dec 31, 2027405 city beds and spaces plus 75 county treatment and locked beds.
- Jun 30, 2028480 city beds and spaces open.
