Grover Beach reports fewer street encampments, urges more long-term housing funding

Grover Beach — City officials told the council Monday that enforcement of a camping ordinance and two temporary housing sites have sharply reduced visible street encampments, but they cautioned that long-term funding and more housing inventory are needed to move hundreds of people from waiting lists into stable homes.

City Manager Matt Bronson said the council would receive an update on the city’s homelessness response, including a review of the camping ordinance and the two nonprofit-operated temporary housing facilities that serve the South County.

The council’s homelessness update matters because the city has invested staff time, property and budget resources and because local residents and businesses have repeatedly raised public-safety and quality-of-life concerns tied to unsheltered homelessness.

Chief Jeff Monroe of the Grover Beach Police Department credited the camping ordinance — enacted in March 2023 — with shrinking the number of camps the city finds each week. “Prior to the ordinance being in place and just after the…