LA just changed its entire approach to homelessness. Does it place politics above need?

LOS ANGELES — The city of Los Angeles has undertaken a major shift in its approach to homelessness, one that puts a priority on clearing unsightly street encampments even when insufficient permanent housing exists for the people being moved.

In the past month, City Council members have identified nearly 300 locations where they would like to ban camping under a new law that was passed in August.

There is widespread agreement that the street encampments, which have spread from skid row to almost all parts of the city, are unsafe, unsanitary and inhumane, reflecting a profound societal failure. But there is also a concern that the change in policy elevates politics over need, creating a squeaky-wheel strategy of clearing those street encampments that have become the biggest liabilities to members of the City Council.

It’s “just shuffling people all around from location to location, based on constituent complaints and the political whims of the City Council members,” said Shayla Myers, a senior attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. “The reality is: Many, many people who are in interim housing fall back onto the streets rather than moving into permanent housing through no fault of their own. There simply is not enough permanent housing available.”

But the new course has gained qualified approval from some homeless services providers, who see advantages as long as adequate shelter and services are provided. People are better off in shelters than on the street, they say, and removing whole encampments avoids the dislocation people can experience when they are plucked from street communities to go to an apartment.

The most formal embrace of the policy shift came over the last month, as the council, using the new law, designated 66 sites