There has been significant progress, and it’s still an emergency.
With the latest data from the city covering March 2025, the Culver City council’s discussion of the Homeless Emergency reached back to the origins of the policy. The council meeting on June 23, 2025 took the discussion of the emergency as a moment to look at both the bigger picture and the details involved.
Tevis Barnes, Director of Housing and Homeless Services, reported that the plan the city is currently working with dates from 2018, “and we hope to present the new updated plan by the end of the year.”
Barnes also offered that the city is currently housing more people – “122 of our neighbors” – than were counted as being homeless in Culver City in the last LAHSA count. Both of the Homekey projects, permanent and interim housing are at full capacity, and Wellness Village is at 91% of capacity. “We like to keep two tents available in case of an emergency during off-hours.”
When asked by Council member Albert Vera, Jr. to evaluate the success of the program, Barnes noted “We were asked to do three things- and we accomplished those three things.” The Homekey, Wellness Village and Motel Master leasing projects were all part of the city mandate. “All of these programs have touched probably every department in this city- police, fire, [mobile crisis team,] public works, finance, everyone – and we are now housing 125 people after a period of two years.”
Mayor Dan O’Brien stated “There might be a concern as to whether or not our unhoused population is aware of what is available – our Mobile Crisis Team is personally touching in with every unhoused person in our [city] borders. They don’t need to go online…they are getting that from the team.”
Currently, the information from the police and fire departments are not included on the City’s homeless dashboard on the city website.
Vice Mayor Freddy Puza inquired about the availability of permanent housing outside of the city, once people had left interim facilities. Barnes noted that it was still very challenging. Puza was supportive, noting that “We’ve made important progress, and it’s important that we continue.”
There was some confusion regarding the discussion of the anti-camping ordinance and the homeless emergency. Legally, “an emergency has to be reviewed every 60 days,” according to City Attorney Heather Baker, but the discussion of the anti-camping ordinance, the emergency, and the homelessness plan were all woven through the council’s concerns.
“We have not had a report on this [ordinance] in over six months,” noted Mayor O’Brien, “It’s one of our tools to get people to come inside and accept help.”
The council concluded by asking for an updated legal frame from the city, and Council member Yasmine Imani McMorrin requested that the city “look at what Santa Monica has…they just recently did an update on their policy as well.” Staff will come back with updated policy proposals.
Barnes concluded by thanking Urban Alchemy, the team that staffs Wellness Village, for their work. “Urban Alchemy is a big part of our success.”
There was no vote, and staff will return with suggestion for updates on both the ordinance and the emergency.
Judith Martin-Straw