A bed tonight

A place to sleep inside for every person now sleeping outside.

What it is

Every winter, volunteers walk every block of Santa Monica and count the people sleeping outside. The 2026 count found 389 people outdoors and 107 occupied cars, vans, tents and makeshift shelters. Counting each of those dwellings as one person gives 496 people without a bed on that night. RAND, which runs its own count in the city, finds about 1.7 people per dwelling, which brings the figure to about 571.

We ask the city and the county to open 555 places by June 30, 2028, close to one for every person in the official count. They come in six kinds. Safe parking (60 spaces) is a lot where people who live in a car can park overnight with toilets and staff. Managed safe sleeping (150 spaces) is a fenced site with tents or pods, staff and bathrooms. Congregate beds (120) are beds in a shared room. Non-congregate beds (150) are a motel room or tiny home with a door that locks. The county adds 50 places in residential drug and alcohol treatment and 25 locked beds for people a court has found unable to care for themselves.

On a normal night, an outreach worker or a police officer meets someone in a doorway. The worker checks the nightly list of open beds, offers a specific one and writes down the answer. If the person says yes, a van takes them there. If the person refuses a bed that is open that night, the camping law applies, and the officer can cite. Today, with no open bed to offer, an officer can only ask the person to move.

This exists because Santa Monica's camping law and its bed supply have never matched. Since the Supreme Court's 2024 decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, a city may enforce a camping ban even when it has no shelter. California courts still let a person argue necessity when no bed was available. A bed for every person makes the law fair to the person on the sidewalk and enforceable for the neighbors.

How it started

Santa Monica has tied shelter to its camping rules for three decades. On April 26, 1994, the city adopted an emergency ordinance to open SAMOSHEL, a tent-like structure at 505 Olympic Boulevard, so it had somewhere to send people while it enforced rules against sleeping in parks (secondhand, March 22, 2019 city staff report as summarized in search results). The Salvation Army ran it until 2005, when OPCC, now The People Concern, took over. In 2019 a federal appeals court ruled in Martin v. Boise that cities in the West could not punish people for sleeping outside when no shelter bed was open. Culver City passed a camping ban 3-2 in 2023, opened a safe-sleeping village in July 2023 and opened 73 Homekey units in October 2023 (fact). On Feb 14, 2024, the county's Pathway Home program moved 25 people from Santa Monica streets into a motel (fact). On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court decided City of Grants Pass v. Johnson 6-3 and overturned Martin. The Court held that enforcing a general camping ban is not cruel and unusual punishment (fact). Santa Monica added sleeping bags and bedrolls to its camping ban in September 2024 (Ord. 2789CCS, first vote 4-3). The section's amendment history ends with Ord. 2804CCS on March 11, 2025, and today's text no longer lists them (fact). On Aug 4, 2026, the Council voted to build its own Housing Focused System of Care with 34 Palm Motel rooms and 35 Bell Shelter beds, and voted 6-0 to keep SAMOSHEL open until replacements exist (fact). The 2026 count found 718 people homeless in the city, 222 of them in shelter (fact).

What we take and when

We ask the City Manager to open 480 city places in three steps. By June 30, 2027, 210 open: 60 safe parking spaces and 150 managed safe-sleeping spaces. By Dec 31, 2027, the total reaches 405 with 120 congregate beds and 75 non-congregate rooms. By June 30, 2028, 75 more non-congregate rooms bring it to 480. We ask the county to open 50 residential treatment slots and 25 locked beds by Dec 31, 2027 (D8). SAMOSHEL's 60 beds stay until replacements open. Yearly spending on beds rises from $12.7M today to $26.7M to $31.7M, which moves beds from 13 cents to 25 to 28 cents of each dollar spent on homelessness (inference, from the petition model). One-time money opens the first sites before June 30, 2027: up to $2.69M of FY 2026-27 Camera Obscura redesign capital, the $3.0M budgeted less $313,838 drawn by a July 14, 2026 design contract (inference from the July 14 staff report) and up to $1.28M of unassigned FY 2025-26 surplus (inference). Once beds exist, D1 restores bedrolls to the camping ban, bans camping near schools, parks, transit, shelters and the Pier at all times, and enforces elsewhere after a person refuses a documented bed offer, with 48-hour notice and 60-day storage of belongings written into law.

The numbers today

People seen sleeping outdoors3892026 count fact
Occupied vehicles; tents and makeshift shelters59; 482026 count fact
People in shelter in Santa Monica2222026 count fact
Unsheltered, each dwelling counted as one person (718 minus 222)4962026 count inference
Unsheltered at RAND's 1.7 people per dwelling (389 plus 107 times 1.7)about 5712026 count inference
Unsheltered adjusted for the undercount RAND measured in Hollywood, Venice and Skid Row (not measured in Santa Monica)about 8402026 inference
RAND's own Santa Monica total; between about 790 and 1,030 since 2017, peak 1,026 in 2019, low 793 in 2026793 (preliminary)2026 fact
Places the petition opens: 480 city plus 75 county555by June 30, 2028 inference
Gross yearly cost of the 480 city places$14.1M to $19.1M (low to moderate confidence)full year from FY 2028-29 inference
City share if the county funds the 150 non-congregate beds (D9)$5.56M to $7.66M a yearfull year inference
Safe parking, cost per space per year (plan placeholder, low confidence)$10,500plan inference
Safe parking, LA city contract at $40 a night$14,600 per space per year2024 secondhand
Managed safe sleeping, San Diego ($4.2M for 400 tents; $7M for 776)$9,000 to $10,500 per space per year2024 inference
Congregate shelter bed, LA city audit at full and at 65% occupancy$29,000 to $44,615 per bed per year2024 secondhand
Non-congregate room; top of range is Santa Monica's own Palm plus Bell rate ($5,271,136 for 69 beds)$57,000 to $76,393 per bed per yearFY 2027-28 contract year inference
Residential drug and alcohol treatment bed ($214 to $243 a day), paid by county and Medi-Cal$78,110 to $88,695 per bed per yearFeb 2024 fact
Locked subacute bed at $450 a day, paid by county mental health (cost unverified)about $164,250 per bed per year2023 secondhand
Reunification bus or plane trip, San Francisco average$492 a trip2024 secondhand
LA city-funded interim beds filled (target 95%)82%through May 1, 2025 fact
LA city-funded interim housing, average stay so far332 daysMay 15, 2025 fact
LA city-funded interim exits to permanent housing31% (March 2025); 32% (April 2025)2025 fact
LA city-funded interim exits to unknown, unsheltered or unfit places43% (March 2025); 50% (April 2025)2025 fact
San Diego police offers of shelter or services refused76% FY2022; 62% FY2023; 52% FY2024; 42% second half of FY2025 into FY2026FY2022 to FY2026 fact
LA County people housed who returned to homelessness within 24 months21.5% (2,878 of 13,379)FY 2021-22 cohort fact
Newly homeless people arriving in Santa Monica each year at its share of county inflow (0.98% of about 60,000)about 5902026 inference

What we give up

The ongoing city money comes from seven named lines (D5, takes are inference). We give up $4.0M to $4.5M a year of the Measure GSH transfer to the Housing Trust Fund, which pays for city loans to new affordable housing. We give up half to all of the Reed Park ambassador shifts and a quarter to half of the city-paid downtown ambassador hours. We give up the City Manager communications staff added in June 2026 and, if the line recurs, the outside communications consultants. From FY 2028-29, we take $1.0M to $1.5M of non-event police overtime and $0.29M to $0.58M of Public Works HoST cleanup crew hours, but only after audited overtime and cleanup tonnage actually fall. The Camera Obscura redesign is set to finish by June 2027 for the House of Switzerland's 2028 Olympic license, so taking its money likely loses that use (fact for the license and date, inference for the loss). If the county does not fund its 150 beds, the city share rises to $14.1M to $19.1M a year, and $3M to $5M of that has no clean source except reserves (inference, low to moderate). Some people who refuse an open bed will be cited or arrested. Neighborhoods inside and outside the city will host sites. Safe parking and safe sleeping are a tent or a car on a managed lot, short of housing.

Why this works

In every nearby city where the street count fell after a camping ban, the city opened beds at the same time (inference, research lane 3). Culver City paired its 2023 ban with a safe-sleeping village and 73 Homekey rooms. Unsheltered people fell from 51 in 2025 to 38 in 2026, and 164 people were in city-program shelter on count night (secondhand, Wave and Culver City Crossroads). Where Sacramento and Fresno raised enforcement without adding beds, counts rose (fact, CalMatters and Fresnoland). New York, which must offer shelter to anyone who asks, has about 3.5% of its homeless population outside; Los Angeles County has about 66% (fact, NYC DSS and LAHSA). Offers get accepted more often once they are routine. San Diego police saw refusals fall from 76% in FY2022 to 42% in late FY2025 (fact, San Diego City Auditor). Santa Monica's own city-funded programs sent 44% of exits to permanent housing in FY 2020-21, against 17% countywide (secondhand, city figure via SMDP).

The strongest case against

Isn't this Housing First or sweeps dressed up? Advocates will call the enforcement half a sweep with a bed attached. RAND's study of Venice, Hollywood and Skid Row found that for every four tents removed, about three vehicles or rough sleepers appeared, and 46% of people who lost a dwelling said government or providers took it (fact, RAND). San Diego's own auditor found the citywide unsheltered count did not fall after its camping ordinance, that people likely moved to safe-sleeping sites and other areas, and that most requests for shelter could not be met (fact). Culver City, the closest success story, has a policy of not citing or arresting anyone under its ban and only removes structures (fact, city page), so its results say little about enforcement. From the other side, critics will say interim beds are Housing First with a waiting room, because every exit still depends on permanent housing the city does not have. People refuse shelter. Shared rooms mean theft, curfews, and no partners or pets, and even in San Diego 42% of offers were still refused in late FY2025 (fact). The count refills. California Policy Lab found about 60,000 of 112,000 people using LA County homeless services in FY 2023-24 were new to the system, and 21.5% of people housed returned to homelessness within two years (fact). LA's own city-funded beds ran at 82% occupancy with average stays of 332 days, and in April 2025 only 32% of exits went to permanent housing while 50% went to unknown, unsheltered or unfit places (fact). A bed count sized to one winter night fills and stays full.

Our answer

On sweeps, we agree that enforcement alone moves people around; the San Diego audit and RAND show it. That is why D1 enforces only after a documented offer of a bed that is open that night, writes 48-hour notice and 60-day storage into law, and why we measure success with RAND's count, which captures rough sleepers and cars. The necessity defense from In re Eichorn still protects anyone who was never offered a real bed. On Housing First, the plan keeps every existing housing line and adds 200 rent subsidies for exits; what it adds is the shelter step Santa Monica lacks. On refusals, 360 of the 555 places are safe parking, safe sleeping or private rooms, where couples, pets and belongings fit. San Diego's refusals fell as offers became routine. We expect the same direction but cannot predict the rate, so D3 publishes offers and refusals every month. On refill, this is the weakest part of the plan. About 400 permanent exits a year (200 subsidies and 200 reunifications) against about 590 newcomers (inference, low) means the count refills unless county permanent housing and vouchers add exits. Our targets reflect that: RAND-adjusted unsheltered under 285 in the January 2028 count and under 100 in January 2029 (low confidence).

Who decides

Who votes: Santa Monica City Council for the city places (D5) and the camping rules (D1); City Manager Oliver Chi brings the capacity plan. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (Horvath, Solis, Mitchell, Hahn, Barger) for the 75 treatment and locked beds (D8) and the 150 non-congregate beds in the Measure A plan (D9).
Votes needed: Council: 4 of 7 at the June 2027 budget; 5 of 7 for the mid-year change in February to March 2027 that the one-time money needs; a majority on two readings for D1. Board: 3 of 5.
When: Capacity plan to Council by Feb 23, 2027; D1 adopted by Feb 23, 2027; Horvath motion (D8) by Jan 31, 2027; Board adopts the FY 2027-28 Measure A plan Jan 26, 2027 (fact, HSH), with public comment expected to close about Nov 20, 2026 (inference); city budget adoption late June 2027.
Note: The seven Council members who vote in 2027 are the ones seated after the Nov 3, 2026 election.

The agenda or process

Questions people ask

Will people actually use the beds?

Some will refuse, and we will publish how many. Most of the places we ask for are private rooms, safe parking or safe sleeping, which answer the usual reasons for refusing a shared room. In San Diego, refusals of police offers fell from 76% to 42% as offers became routine (fact, San Diego City Auditor).

Isn't this just moving money around?

Yes. The city already spends about $94.2M a year on homelessness by our model, and only 13 cents of each dollar buys a bed (inference). We move money from seven named city lines and ask the county to pay for 150 rooms, so beds become 25 to 28 cents of each dollar.

What happens to someone who says no?

If a bed is open that night and the person refuses it after a documented offer, the camping law applies and police may cite. Near schools, parks, transit, shelters and the Pier, camping is banned at all times. Belongings are stored for 60 days, with 48 hours' notice before any cleanup.

Why not build permanent housing instead?

Permanent housing takes years to build, and people are outside tonight. We keep every existing housing line and add 200 rent subsidies for people leaving a bed. Without exits to housing, beds fill and stay full, so we need both.

What if the county says no?

Then the city pays $14.1M to $19.1M a year instead of $5.56M to $7.66M (inference). The seven named lines plus the whole housing trust transfer cover about $11.1M to $14.2M, leaving $3M to $5M a year with no clean source except reserves.

Sources

City of Santa Monica, 2026 count release718 total, 222 sheltered, 389 people outdoors, 59 vehicles, 48 tents and makeshift shelters
RAND, Santa Monica homelessness report RR-A5222-1 (Oct 1, 2026)RAND series between about 790 and 1,030 since 2017: peak 1,026 in 2019, low 793 in 2026 (preliminary); 1.7 people per dwelling
RAND LA LEADS report RR-A4903-1Four tents removed, about three vehicles or rough sleepers added; 46% said government or providers took their dwelling; LAHSA undercount 26% and 32%
Santa Monica petition plan D5 and mid-year agenda5 of 7 vote for mid-year change; bed mix, phasing and cost model from plan/PLAN.md section 4.2
Housing Focused System of Care staff report, July 28, 2026Palm Motel and Bell Shelter contracts, $5,271,136 future-year cost for 69 beds, five-vote budget amendment
City of Los Angeles monthly homelessness performance report, May 202582% occupancy vs 95% target, 332-day average stay, 31% and 32% exits to permanent housing, 43% and 50% to unknown or unsheltered
San Diego City Auditor, OCA-26-07 (April 2026)Refusals 76% to 42%; citywide unsheltered did not decrease; most shelter requests could not be met
Times of San Diego, safe sleeping expansion (Oct 22, 2024)$4.2M for 400 tents, $7M for 776
The Center Square, LA shelter cost auditCongregate bed $29,000 to $44,615 a year
Westside Current, LA safe parking costs$40 a night per safe parking space
LA County bed status report (Feb 2024)Residential SUD treatment $214 to $243 a day
Disability Rights California, Stuck (2023)Locked subacute about $450 a day
San Francisco Chronicle, Journey Home trips$492 average reunification trip
California Policy Lab baselines report (Jan 2025)About 60,000 of 112,000 new to services; 21.5% returns within 24 months; 1 in 6 exit to permanent housing
Wave, Culver City homeless numbersUnsheltered 51 in 2025 to 38 in 2026; 164 people in city-program shelter on count night, after the 2023 ban, village and Homekey
Culver City Crossroads, 2026 countUnsheltered 51 in 2025 to 38 in 2026
Culver City homeless services pageCity policy is not to cite or arrest under the ban, only remove structures
CalMatters, enforcement data (June 2025)Sacramento enforcement rose; counts rose
Fresnoland, Fresno and Madera counts (May 2025)Fresno unsheltered up about 10% after its ban
NYC DSS HOPE count 20254,504 unsheltered, about 3.5% of the homeless population
LAHSA 2025 count resultsLA County about 66% unsheltered
SMDP, homeless count reports 807 individualsSanta Monica city-funded programs 44% exits to permanent housing vs 17% countywide, FY 2020-21 (city claim)
City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, Supreme Court opinionJune 28, 2024, 6-3, camping bans enforceable
In re Eichorn (1998)Necessity defense when no shelter bed is available
LA County DMH, SB 43SB 43 in effect in LA County from Jan 1, 2026
DHCS CARE Act annual report 2026CARE Court process and statewide numbers
LA County, Pathway Home in Santa MonicaFeb 14, 2024 operation, 25 people indoors
Santa Monica Lookout, SAMOSHEL makeover (June 12, 2019)SAMOSHEL origins and 2019 renovation
City staff report on SAMOSHEL, March 22, 2019April 26, 1994 emergency ordinance; Salvation Army 1994 to 2005; OPCC from 2005
Santa Monica Lookout, Council delays SAMOSHEL closure (Aug 4, 2026)6-0 motion to keep SAMOSHEL open until replacements exist

Words on this page

CARE Court: A California civil court process, created by SB 1338 in 2022, that orders a treatment agreement or plan for people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Refusal brings no jail.
Congregate: Shelter where many people sleep in one shared room.
Conservatorship: A court order letting a public guardian make treatment and housing decisions for someone found gravely disabled. Under the LPS Act, a 5150 is a 72-hour hold, a 5250 a 14-day certification and a 5350 a conservatorship.
CPL: California Policy Lab, a University of California research center that studies LA County homelessness data.
D1 to D12: The twelve demands in our petition. D1 is the camping rule, D3 monthly reports, D5 city beds, D8 county treatment and locked beds, D9 county non-congregate beds.
DTSM: Downtown Santa Monica Inc., the nonprofit that manages downtown and employs ambassadors.
General Fund: The city's main budget account, paid mostly by local taxes, which the Council may spend on any lawful purpose.
Grants Pass: City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, the June 28, 2024 Supreme Court decision (6-3) holding that enforcing general camping bans is not cruel and unusual punishment.
Homekey: A California program that pays cities and counties to buy motels and other buildings and turn them into housing for homeless people.
HoST: Homeless Support Team, the Public Works crew that cleans encampment sites.
Housing First: A policy of placing people into permanent housing without requiring sobriety or treatment first.
HSH: Los Angeles County Department of Homeless Services and Housing, which runs county homelessness contracts.
In re Eichorn: A 1998 California appeals decision that lets a person charged with camping argue necessity if no shelter bed was available.
Interim housing: A temporary place to stay while someone waits for permanent housing. Includes shelters, motel rooms and tiny homes.
Locked subacute bed: A bed in a locked mental health facility for people under conservatorship or court order.
LPS Act: Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, the California law that governs involuntary mental health holds and conservatorships.
Managed safe sleeping: A fenced, staffed site with tents or sleeping pods and bathrooms.
Martin v. Boise: A 2019 federal appeals court ruling that barred punishing people for sleeping outside when no shelter bed was open. Grants Pass overturned it.
Measure A: LA County's half-cent sales tax for homelessness, collected since April 1, 2025, which replaced Measure H.
Measure GSH and Measure GS: GSH is Santa Monica's general sales tax on high-value property sales. Measure GS was the advisory vote saying how GSH money should be spent; it binds no one.
Non-congregate: Shelter where a person or couple has a private room with a door, such as a motel room or tiny home.
Pathway Home: LA County's program that moves whole encampments into motel rooms or other interim housing at once.
PIT count: Point-in-time count. A one-night count of everyone homeless, done each winter, split into sheltered (in a shelter bed that night) and unsheltered (outside, in a car or tent).
PSH: Permanent supportive housing. A rent subsidy or apartment combined with ongoing case management.
RAND: A nonprofit research organization that runs its own homeless counts in Santa Monica, Venice, Hollywood and Skid Row.
Safe parking: A supervised lot where people living in vehicles may park overnight, with toilets and staff.
SAMOSHEL: Santa Monica Shelter, the city-owned 60-bed congregate shelter at 505 Olympic Boulevard run by The People Concern.
SB 43: A 2023 California law that lets a court find a person gravely disabled because of severe drug or alcohol addiction, opening the door to involuntary treatment. LA County began using it Jan 1, 2026.
SMMC: Santa Monica Municipal Code, the city's local laws.
SUD: Substance use disorder, meaning drug or alcohol addiction.
TPC: The People Concern, the nonprofit formed in 2016 from OPCC and Lamp Community, which runs SAMOSHEL and other Santa Monica programs.
Unsheltered: Sleeping somewhere not meant for people to live: a sidewalk, park, car, van, RV or tent.