Starting Nov. 28, Grover Beach will give homeless people 48 hours before removing their encampments in a bid to curb camping in the city.
The City Council unanimously approved the change—a reduction from the current 72-hour notice—on Oct. 27.
“Homelessness has been a long-standing issue in the city of Grover Beach,” Grover Beach Police Chief Jim Munro said. “Over the past few years, we’ve done quite a bit to address it.”
In 2023, the City Council adopted an ordinance that regulated camping on public property. That ordinance required the city to provide a 72-hour notice to people camped out longer than 24 hours on permitted public property. If they didn’t clean up the encampment within that time, the city Public Works crew would remove the tagged camp. The city stores property other than trash or junk for later pickup if necessary.
The Grover Beach Police Department wanted to reduce the noticing period thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of a lower court’s ruling.
In June 2024, the Supreme Court released its opinion in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson—the Ninth Circuit Court held that a municipality couldn’t criminalize a homeless person for sleeping outside if there’s a lack in adequate housing alternatives.
But the Supreme Court ruled that enforcement of generally applicable laws regulating camping or sleeping on public property doesn’t constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment.
At the Oct. 27 City Council meeting, Police Chief Munro said that the Supreme Court’s ruling gives the city “more latitude.”
“Prior to the Supreme Court decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, we relied [on] ‘best practice’ and other court decisions (Martin v. City of Boise) to guide our ordinance and removal times,” he told New Times via email. “This [Supreme Court] ruling allowed a little more flexibility for cities to enforce and strengthen their ordinances.”
Munro added that on average, police tag between one and three camps every week. The cleanups are minor.
“The quicker we can identify and tag the camp, the better it is, hence part of the reason for the new 48-hour removal time,” he said. “The 48-hour removal period brings us into alignment with the California Interagency Council on Homelessness who recommends a minimum of 48 hours for removal. Additionally, no minimum removal time period was recommended/required by the Supreme Court.”
Switching to the 48-hour notice period will also save money, he told the council. Public Works Director Greg Ray told New Times the exact amount in savings isn’t known yet.
“What we do know is that the longer an encampment stays in place, the more extensive and difficult the cleanup effort gets as materials are spread wider around the camp and more materials are collected in and around the encampment,” he said. “Our experience has shown that if we can get a cleanup done earlier, the materials are more concentrated around the camp area, which reduces our cleanup costs.”
5Cities Homeless Coalition Associate Director Devon McQuade said that while the noticing period reduction doesn’t make a big difference for them, the same problems persist.
“We’ve had people coming into our office now for services who have been out for a significant period of time and haven’t really wanted to connect with us,” she said. “But the challenge obviously is that we may not have a shelter bed for them. Even if they do get into shelter, our folks who are low-income or disabled, we don’t have enough housing options.”
At the City Council meeting, two residents pushed back on the effort. Resident Cathryn Sells said 48 hours is “cutting it too short.” Another community member, Randall Myrick, agreed.
“I don’t have a choice; I interact with some of these homeless people because my office is down there,” Myrick told the City Council. “Why don’t you put a dumpster there, see if they make the effort to clean it up themselves, and give them a break maybe if you see they’re taking care of things?” ∆
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 9 2025.