The LA Alliance for Human Rights continued to fight in court this week for shelters, services and treatment, and safe streets for all of Los Angeles.  Monday’s proceedings focused on the City and County’s Motion to Dismiss the Alliance’s Amended and Supplemental Complaint that clearly identifies where Los Angeles has failed its duty to protect those living and dying on the streets and the communities in which they live.

 As expected, the City and County didn’t have much to say other than “We are trying” and “We are spending a lot of money” and “This is a political issue, not a legal one.” Our Attorney’s response: This should be a political issue, the elected leaders should have handled it, but when their failure reaches Constitutional proportions, it becomes a judicial issue and judges must step in. The seminal Brown v. Board of Education decision regarding segregated schools was also thought a political issue at the time, warding off the judiciary’s involvement.  When it became clear, however, that segregated schools were a matter of policy amounting to a violation of the Constitution, the courts stepped in to end that disgraceful practice.

Ultimately the court harangued the City and County about why no settlement has taken place and set a mandatory settlement conference for February 15.  Judge Carter will hold off ruling on the motions until the settlement conference.  Stay tuned to see if the City and County have anything legitimate to offer, or more of the same (excuses).

Instead of the City and County hiding behind the lame excuse of meeting their “statutory obligations” by offering thin, ineffective housing and services, we are demanding real solutions that result in shelter, treatment, and safe streets.  It’s taken our lawsuit to bring them to the table and we are not stopping until we reach a comprehensive settlement overseen by Judge Carter.

Share this story with your friends and encourage them to join the LA Alliance.  We are working to put together a grass roots campaign that will assist you in contacting your Councilmembers and County Supervisors and demanding that they end the scourge of homelessness in LA.  Watch our new video and check out our updated website.  

By now you have probably heard that the City and County of Los Angeles have filed a motion to dismiss the LA Alliance lawsuit.  As the LA Daily News puts it, this is a “closely watched federal lawsuit.”

The stakes are high, and we remain bullish that these motions, just like the previous motion to dismiss filed by the County, are attacks we will easily overcome.  Our efforts to pressure the City and County are working and time is running out. 

Daniel Conway, our LA Alliance spokesman, made it clear: 

“With winter right around the corner, the city and county should be focusing their energy and resources on getting as many people off the streets as possible.  This would have the benefits of saving lives, providing treatment and services, reducing crime and violence in our neighborhoods, and reclaiming public spaces for the entire community.  Instead, the city and the county of Los Angeles spend taxpayer dollars grasping at every legal escape hatch. We hope their New Year’s resolution is to get serious about comprehensively addressing homelessness.”

In the next month, the LA Alliance will be back in court arguing for our plaintiffs and advocating for the housed and unhoused of Los Angeles.  We will remind the Court of the success we’ve had in increasing the number of shelter beds and demanding additional action from the City and County to solve the homelessness crisis.   Our goal is securing shelter and treatment for the unhoused and to start regulating public spaces such as sidewalks and parks.

As we reflect on the Holiday season, we remain vigilant yet humble in the fight for the vulnerable.  We are mindful that too many Angelenos are denied shelter and help and that this season will be a difficult one for them. 

Thank you for your support.  We appreciate the opportunity to fight for Los Angeles. 

Have a Happy Holiday!

The LA Times today reported on a new poll about homelessness in the LA region.  The poll, which surveyed 906 registered voters, showed that most of respondents support the plan and approach of the LA Alliance for Human Rights. 

Top concerns of the respondents were:

• Need for Shelter – respondents prefer a strategy of providing shelter over creating expensive and slow to develop permanent housing to get people quickly off the streets.
• Safety – the presence of homeless encampments and individuals living on the streets makes Angelenos feel less safe and negatively impacts their quality of life.
• Services – nearly thirty percent acknowledged the failure to provide services like, treatment for mental illness.
• Frustration / impatience with elected leaders – 94 percent indicated homelessness is the top issue facing the region and 79 percent said things have gotten worse not better. In addition, 75 percent said homelessness should be the top priority for elected officials. 

The LA Alliance plan calls for shelter, services and treatment, and safe and clean streets and public spaces.  It is a compassionate and reasonable plan that meets the needs of the unhoused and the housed. 

The plan calls for the City to ramp up its ability to create shelter space.  The Alliance’s actions have already resulted in securing 6,000 shelter beds.  For the first time, more than 800 beds now go vacant in LA shelters nightly. 

The Alliance plan also calls on the County to provide treatment and services to those experiencing homelessness.  The LA Times poll indicated that treatment and services are supported by more than half of voters. 

64 percent of respondents support the clearing of encampments as part of a plan of providing shelter and services.  This methodical, step-by-step, block-by-block strategy provides both for the needs of the unhoused and the regulation of public spaces sought by communities. 

The LA Alliance approach uses a lawsuit to demand action from the City and the County of Los Angeles to respond to the homeless crisis.  The Alliance lawsuit call for immediate action free from political influence and bureaucratic obstacles with accountability and oversight provided by the court.  The LA Alliance approach follows the same successful strategy in Orange County that created hundreds of shelter beds, provided treatment and services, and cleaned up the infamous Santa Ana Riverbed encampment. 

You can find out more about the LA Alliance at our website. 

View and share our latest video.

It’s great to read that Robin Abcarian, Opinion Columnist of the LA Times, has come around to the lack of leadership and policy that is devastating Los Angeles communities.  In her article, The Venice Homeless Encampment Next Door, Abcarian acknowledges that with no leadership or sensible policy, residents of Los Angeles are left to fend for themselves in a dystopian world. 

Abcarian clearly describes the situation:  machete wielding, shootings, gunshots, fires, drug use and drug dealing, screaming, and fighting – all on display with no judgement or recourse.  Her dispassionate portrayal of Venice makes her seem a bit sympathetic, but not enough to call out the failure of city and county leaders to address the crisis comprehensively.

Abcarian understands what it’s like to live in a community constantly confronted with the reality that is Los Angeles’ failure to help the homeless because she lives in Venice.  The scene she describes is part of her daily routine. 

The article is less an opinion piece than an article conveying the realities that LA residents face every day.  Giving an opinion on the devastation and lawlessness on display in her neighborhood could only criticize the status quo, which normally the LA Times rationalizes and defends at all costs.  Instead, it conveys a sense that the only way things will change is if something magical were to fall from the skies of Los Angeles. 

The truth is, while Los Angeles’s leaders are fighting over the redistricting process and next year's elections, the LA Alliance for Human Rights has taken the initiative and is demanding change. The Alliance sued the City and the County to cut through the politics and bureaucracy to force the City and County to provide shelter, services and treatment, and safe streets.  It’s sensible policy that has already made an impact as reported in another part of the LA Times.

Instead of taking the tragedy of Los Angeles in stride, as Abcarian appears to do, residents from the beach to the Valley to Downtown need to rise up and organize to put pressure on the City and County to settle the LA Alliance suit.  Settling the lawsuit is the most direct, no-nonsense pathway to a comprehensive solution that would reclaim our streets and public spaces, and provide shelter and treatment to the unhoused. 

The lawsuit provides the accountability and oversight that is lacking from the City Council and County Board by holding them to the legal strictures of a legally binding agreement overseen by a very dynamic judicial officer.   That is what helped clean up the encampments in the Santa Ana River and the communities of Bellflower and Santa Ana.  It’s what we need in Los Angeles.