Judge gives final OK to LA city’s settlement of homeless lawsuit; County negotiations remain

By FRED SHUSTER City News Service

A federal judge on Tuesday, June 14, gave final approval to Los Angeles’ proposed settlement with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights in which the city will spend up to $3 billion to develop as many as 16,000 beds or housing units for non-mentally ill members of the homeless population.

U.S. District Judge David Carter wrote that the parties have requested that the court retain jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the settlement agreement for a period of five years. The pact is “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” he said.

“The agreement before the court was not achieved in haste — it was the result of long and deliberate good-faith negotiations,” the judge wrote.

Carter said the settlement “creates a structure and enforcement mechanism for the city to create a substantial number of new beds for people experiencing homelessness. While this agreement is not a solution to homelessness, it is a concrete step toward improving the lives of our neighbors who are currently suffering on the streets.”

The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-3 last month to approve the settlement.

Carter is overseeing the March 2020 lawsuit in which L.A. Alliance —a coalition of downtown business owners and sheltered and unsheltered residents — accuses the city and county of Los Angeles of failing to do its part in addressing the homelessness crisis.

Co-defendant Los Angeles County did not participate in the agreement and has scheduled closed-door mediation sessions in efforts to resolve its part of the suit.

Carter said at a hearing last week that in the two years that the case has been pending, he has seen efforts by the parties to address the homelessness problem not just in the Skid Row area but throughout the city and county.

There is now “an increasing effort to get thousands, not hundreds, off the streets,” Carter said.