Norwalk’s city council members Tuesday night unanimously voted to extend a ban on homeless shelters and other types of housing, defying state officials who warned the move was illegal.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom had called out Norwalk this week.
“It is counterproductive and immoral for any community to throw up their hands and say they’ve done enough while they still have people in need,” Newsom said in a statement on Monday.
“We can’t leave people in dangerous and unsanitary encampments,” the governor said. “The city of Norwalk needs to do its part to provide people with shelter and services.”
At a meeting Tuesday night, Norwalk’s five council members voted to extend that ban for 10 months and 15 days. Staff, who recommended the extension, said at the meeting the time will be used to study its effects. Ahead of that vote, the city attorney read a statement acknowledging the letter from the state and saying they were in the process of reviewing it.
What people said at the meeting
Some speakers at the meeting objected to the ban.
“I strongly oppose this item because I don’t think it makes Norwalk safer,” said Christina Sanchez, who described herself as a union member and Norwalk resident. “It also doesn’t help address our housing and homelessness crisis to ban shelter or permanent supportive housing… Many people are living only one paycheck away from sleeping in their cars, from couch surfing. And housing insecurity unfortunately happens more often than we’d like to acknowledge, often in plain sight.”
Another speaker noted that in the last homeless count 144 people in Norwalk were unsheltered and encouraged city officials to…
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