Homeless Housing At The Marina? Marina Del Rey Businesses React

MARINA DEL REY, CA — Marina business owners are pushing back against the recommendation from the City Administrative Officer that a site in Marina del Rey could be among potential options for future homeless housing, city officials announced last week.

Several Westside beaches and proposed locations will not be used as homeless housing sites after a study released last week from the City Administrative Officer confirmed the locations are not feasible. Sites in Culver City and in Marina del Rey were recommended.

Marina del Rey Convention and Visitors Bureau’s CEO Janet Zaldua responded to the report recommendations.

“We are deeply concerned as a business community about the feasibility report recommending further evaluation on Parking Lot #2 and the Marina del Rey Public Boat Launch ramp," Zaldua wrote.

Zaldua expressed concerns about tourism and business in the area.

"The tourism and hospitality businesses in Marina del Rey strongly believe that temporary housing or a safe sleep site in the Marina near visitor attractions such as the public boat launch ramp, dining establishments, retail shops, the Visitors Center, or any of the Marina’s eight hotels will have a damaging effect on business and deter visitors and business travelers from coming to the Marina for recreation, business, or social celebrations," Zaldua said.

The suggested locations could have a negative impact on the surrounding businesses and locations.

"We believe Parking Lot #2 / Marina del Rey Public Boat Launch ramp is not a suitable alternative location for homeless housing, namely because a safe sleeping site or temporary housing would 1) serve as a barrier to its use for recreational boating activities, 2) negatively impact local businesses that rely on tourism, especially during their recovery efforts from the pandemic”, and 3) utilize space that is currently designated as a site for emergency disaster response and helicopter emergency landing zone," Zaldua said.

The report last week came after Councilmember Mike Bonin's proposal to study whether or not Will Rogers State Beach, along with other Westside locations, could be successfully used as an emergency housing site for homeless residents. In March, Bonin proposed a series of ideas for potential homeless shelters as a rising number of encampments grew in the pandemic. Those suggested locations were in Pacific Palisades, Mar Vista, Marina Del Rey, Playa del Rey, Venice, Del Rey, Westchester and West LA.

In a four-page report released last week, CAO Matt Szabo cited a lack of sewer infrastructure, lack of adequate power capacity, and the absence of fire hydrants as reasons Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades should not be used.

Szabo described in the report why some of these locations were not considered feasible.

"Council District 11, like Council Districts 1, 5, 7, and 12, lacks City-owned land that can be used for homeless interventions," Szabo said in his report. "For these areas, we should continue to identify privately-owned sites that can be leased for homeless interventions and request that the Los Angeles Housing Department pursue properties under the Project Homekey 2 Program. Most of these districts benefited from Round 1 of Project Homekey. In Council District 11, two motels/hotels were purchased, and are now operating as interim housing."

Szabo also deemed Dockweiler State Beach, Westchester and Mar Vista Park, and a privately owned vacant lot near the Ballona Creek as ill-suited locations for homeless housing. RV park sites at Marina del Rey and Culver City are still under assessment for feasibility, while Los Angeles World Airports was in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration about using airport land for homeless housing.

The CAO recommends continuing to assess the idea of tiny homes or safe camping at the Marina Del Rey boat launch ramp, Parking Lot #2, 13477 Fiji Way, and recommends continuing to assess a potential partnership with Culver City for a joint homelessness intervention on a vacant lot owned by Culver City, at 9415-9425 Venice Blvd. in Los Angeles, Bonin said.

The following locations will NOT be used as homeless shelter locations:

• The parking lot at Will Rogers State Beach, Pacific Palisades.
• Dockweiler State Beach, Playa del Rey.
• A privately-owned lot at 5000 Beethoven Avenue, Del Rey.
• Part of the West LA Municipal Building for interim shelter.

Councilmember Mike Bonin confirmed in an email Monday night that after the results of the study, he would not pursue the idea of installing housing for the homeless at Will Rogers State Beach parking lot, instead of searching for alternative ways to increase the amount of available housing.

"I had asked the City to examine a variety of locations because we are facing an urgent and growing crisis, and unhoused residents, housed residents, neighborhood councils and federal judges had asked me to explore tiny homes and sanctioned camping with services, security, and sanitation," he said. "I refuse to accept the status quo of encampments everywhere and people dying on our streets, and I will leave no stone unturned in searching for alternatives. I appreciate those who share that sentiment, and supported conducting a feasibility study."

The decision this week follows weeks after the Encampment to Home initiative in Venice, an effort to provide housing for the unhoused living along Ocean Front Walk. It started June 28 with outreach teams from St. Joseph Center. So far, about 200 people have moved from living on the Venice Beach boardwalk to indoor housing.

"A metric that people are judging this by is how the boardwalk looks, and that's a reasonable one, but the metric that really matters is how many people have been brought indoors and how many lives are being transformed for the better," Bonin said. "It has demonstrated that when offered real housing, people jump to say yes, people want to be housed."

- Patch Editor Kenan Draughorne contributed to this report.

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