As Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, City Hall has begun developing a formal strategy for unhoused residents during the event, prompting renewed concerns from advocates that the Games could bring intensified encampment sweeps and displacement.

A recent report by LAist detailed growing fears among homelessness advocates that preparations for the Olympics could lead to the mass removal of unhoused people from areas surrounding venues and transit corridors.

Those concerns are reflected in a motion introduced by Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson. Rather than waiting until the Games approach, the motion directs the City’s administrative agencies to develop a comprehensive homelessness plan within 90 days.

The proposal asks the City Administrative Officer and Chief Legislative Officer, working with Los Angeles World Airports, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, to report on how the city intends to conduct outreach, housing placements, and “encampment resolution” before and during the Games. The report would include timelines for clearing encampments around Olympic venues and transit corridors, anticipated staffing levels, and potential funding sources.

The motion arrives against a backdrop of widespread public concern. Community Impact Statements and public comments submitted to the council have repeatedly warned that the Olympics could accelerate the criminalization of homelessness through expanded policing, sweeps, and displacement while worsening the city’s housing crisis through rising rents and evictions. Others have raised alarms about the Games’ designation as a National Special Security Event, which will bring an unprecedented federal security presence to Los Angeles.

The item was discussed during the June 30 City Council meeting as part of the council’s broader Olympic preparations, though no substantive debate occurred before the council advanced the planning process.

With roughly two years until the opening ceremony, the question facing Los Angeles is no longer whether the city will have an Olympic homelessness strategy. It is whether that strategy will prioritize connecting people to housing or moving them out of sight.