THE Los Angeles City Council approved settlement fees for two cases involving homeless people, together totaling $950,000, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
Deliberated in a closed meeting, lawmakers agreed to a payout of $822,000 in a case in which homeless people collectively sued the city for seizing and destroying their property, the Times reported. In April, U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero ruled that the city needed to reform its handling of homeless individuals’ personal property, citing that the existing protocol was unconstitutional and violated protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Moreover, Otero said that the city must give proper notice before going forth with searches and confiscation.
“The city, in many instances, appears to be confiscating all property, without differentiating the types of property at issue or giving homeless people a meaningful opportunity to separate essential medication or medical equipment from their other property,” Otero said in his ruling in April.
The second case resulted in a settlement of $125,000 regarding an arrest made during a 2011 protest of the city’s monthly Skid Row walks in which city and local business leaders examine the 50-block neighborhood. The city council ruled that the arrest of Pete White, LA Community Action Network organizer and activist, was a “mistake.”
White, along with other activists, protested the Skid Row walk practice because they saw it “a vehicle for ejecting poor and homeless residents and hastening gentrification,” according to the Times article.
According a 2015 report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, LA has the highest amount of homeless people in the country with a homeless population of more than 12,000. Consequently, LA is no stranger legal battles over issues of homelessness.
Last year, the city approved a payout of $1.1 million in attorney fees in a case that sought to reform ordinances that prohibited homeless people from sleeping in their cars on city streets and lots, according to another LA Times report from last year.
Two years ago, civil rights attorneys prevailed in a case that challenged police sweeps of overnight homeless encampments on Skid Row – that case resulted in $725,000 in attorney fees.
