OCEANSIDE
The Oceanside City Council unanimously approved an emergency motel voucher program and an anti-camping ordinance Wednesday, both effective immediately and aimed at the tent communities growing along South Oceanside Boulevard and elsewhere.
The two actions are designed to work together, staff members said. If the city can offer homeless individuals an available bed and support services, it can ticket them for “camping, sleeping, sitting, lying and storing personal property” in public places when they refuse to leave.
Posting of the required 48-hour notices began at the camps Thursday morning, City Manager Deanna Lorson said by email. “There will be no criminal citations issued until the person has been offered shelter and/or a motel voucher,” she said. The city’s homeless outreach team, a combination of police officers and social workers, will offer an array of housing options and other services to the individuals.