An 18-month legal struggle over how homeless people are treated in north and central Orange County — a fight that started when county officials pushed hundreds of people out of tent encampments in the Santa Ana riverbed — ended Tuesday, July 23, in a settlement that both sides described in positive terms.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who pressed for cooperation throughout the proceedings, which pitted Orange County against the homeless and their advocates, signed the class-action agreement that calls for the kind of compassionate and service-oriented approach lawyers for the homeless people have always wanted.
At the same time, the deal gives the Orange County Sheriff’s Dept. a specific procedure to enforce anti-camping and anti-loitering laws in those areas of north and central Orange County under the county’s jurisdiction in a way that is aimed at preventing new encampments from popping up.
Other key parts of the settlement: establishing standards of care for county-funded shelters and service programs; creating a path to accommodate people with disabilities; providing due process protections; and referring people to collaborative courts to handle citations.
“This is an exemplary document that the governor should know about,” said Carter, who, as he has in the past, declared the settlement process and the measures it calls for a “role model” for others trying to solve a growing homelessness phenomenon that is reaching across the country.
The settlement doesn’t end the court’s role in the case. Carter will retain jurisdiction for the next three years to hash out grievances, a step that allows flexibility in solving problems quickly and reducing legal costs.
Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do read a statement in court, calling the settlement “a watershed moment” and listing the elements of a system of care that the county is in the midst of building. He even thanked the plaintiff’s lawyers for taking legal action that “forced the county, nay the system, to look within ourselves to ask the fundamental question whether we have fulfilled our obligations under the law.”
Read Supervisor Do’s full statement
The settlement calls for outreach workers to serve as the lead contacts to homeless people in the north and central service planning areas — offering field screenings, clinical assessments, and appropriate services and placement. In those areas, that assistance will be offered before sheriff deputies can issue warnings and, if those warnings are ignored, write citations or make arrests of homeless people.
But in restricted zones — which include John Wayne Airport, flood control channels, fire-risky wilderness areas, and inside county public libraries — deputies can immediately undertake agreed-upon enforcement procedures without waiting for outreach workers.
Longtime homeless advocate Lou Noble expressed frustration with elements of the deal.
“It’s criminalizing homelessness for at least 40 percent of the people who can’t get into the shelters,” Noble said after the court session.
While new shelters have opened in several cities over the past few months as a result of the lawsuit, more than half of the 6,860 homeless people documented in a Point In Time count in January were without shelter, according to data released by the county in April.
Communities in California and eight other Western states are facing added legal pressure to create shelter for homeless populations. A 2018 decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in the case of Martin v. Boise, says that homeless people must have some access to indoor shelter as an alternative to sleeping outdoors before police in those communities can issue tickets, arrest the homeless or otherwise punish those who are living without shelter.
Another homeless civil rights lawsuit, filed in February by the Catholic Worker lawyers, is being fought in south Orange County by the cities of Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Irvine, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. A different federal judge was named in June to replace Carter when three of the south county cities succeeded in having him recused. A hearing on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit is set for Aug. 5.
Carter acknowledged from the bench that the outcome of the Catholic Worker lawsuit won’t please homeless advocates, some of whom attended the 50-minute court session. “You’ll never be completely satisfied because there’s a long way to go,” he said.
David Duran, who signed the settlement on behalf of People’s Homeless Task Force, believes there has been too much emphasis on creating shelter and not enough on permanent housing with social and health services for the most vulnerable homeless people.
“The county has well over 1,000 properties,” Duran said. “I still don’t see the county utilizing those properties.”
