LOS ANGELES — Battered by a global pandemic, failing family finances and supporting a disabled fiancé, Anthony Quinto reached the end of his rope at the shore of the Pacific Ocean.

"We're on our own," he said as he began setting up a tent in the sand at Venice Beach. "I reached out to everything I could think of, you know, Salvation Army, everything. And as far as housing, they say the waiting list could be years."

Coming to Venice is coming home for Quinto, who graduated from Santa Monica High School, never dreaming he would be living on the nearby beach. He has arrived in the middle of a massive effort to clear out a sprawling encampment along the Venice Beach Boardwalk.

As homeless people move into housing, their tents are destroyed. So far, the charity St. Joseph's Center said outreach teams have contacted more than 240 people and moved 141 of them off the beach and into temporary housing.

But Quinto said outreach workers told him he doesn't qualify for the rapid housing program because he's only been camping on the beach for a few weeks.

"They'll help the people that are out here longer, so of course, I was just being sarcastic and just told him, 'Oh, so we haven't suffered long enough,'" Quinto said.

According to the city's annual homeless count, Mayor Eric Garcetti's tenure saw a steady rise in homelessness, surging from roughly 23,000 people when he was elected in 2013 to more than 40,000 in 2020. Garcetti's "A Bridge Home" shelter program brought 30 new, temporary shelters online — not enough to stem the tide of homelessness driven by high rents, mental illness and now, a global pandemic.

"It hasn't gotten a lot better on the streets because, for every person you put in housing, someone else is becoming homeless," said Garcetti, who President Joe Biden nominated to become the U.S. ambassador to India.

Last week, Garcetti spent an afternoon talking to business owners who received grants from the city during the pandemic. He assured them the city is not likely headed toward another shutdown.

"I think it would be impossible," he said, telling them how 70% of adult Angelenos are now vaccinated.

Garcetti's outgoing budget allocated $1 billion toward homelessness, but he said his successor should frame the crisis as a national issue.

"I'd say to her or to him, to don't over-promise and be a voice nationally because we have to do two things," he said. "You have to look at the big solutions to homelessness. For me, that's a right to housing. The second step is to tackle mental healthcare."

Last week, Quinto was startled by a cleanup crew on Venice Beach at 2 a.m. that told him he could no longer camp on certain sections of the beach. He knows it's only a matter of time before it happens again.

"That's the thing that's been haunting me," he said.

Venice Beach will always be home. Quinto isn't sure how long he can stay there, he said.