Potential Litigation Over Handling Of Homeless Crisis In South OC

ALISO VIEJO, CA — Several south Orange County cities, including Aliso Viejo, are back in the crosshairs with regard to their handling of issues surrounding homelessness. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who has overseen multiple lawsuits with regard to Orange County's homeless crisis, prodded local, state and county officials Tuesday for additional funding for services and shelters for the area's transients. Carter also praised progress that has been made since the litigation began last year.

Attorneys Brooke Weitzman and Carol Sobel said they would serve Irvine, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point and Aliso Viejo, as well as the county, soon.

The cities had not been served as of this report, as Judge Carter "assumed" they would be, he said, so the litigation could not yet be discussed. He invited the cities to get involved in settlement talks to avoid years of expected litigation.

"If you're going to settle, the door's wide open," Carter told attorney Stephen Larson, a former federal judge, who is representing Irvine. He was set to consider a lawsuit against the county and several south county cities that seeks to stop them from enforcing anti-camping laws.

The lawsuit against the south county cities of Irvine, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point and Aliso Viejo alleges that they have done nothing to solve homeless or have stood in the way of solutions. Other south county cities could also find themselves involved if they cannot provide proof they offer adequate shelter for transients, Patch has learned.

To date, one of the only homeless facilities in south Orange County remains the Laguna Beach Alternative Sleeping Location, which can house 45 people per night.

Though the results of the mandated point in time homeless count from January 2019 will not be released until later this month, the PIT count revealed approximately 400 homeless individuals living in south Orange County, Voice of OC reported.

Cities cannot enforce anti-camping laws unless they can prove they have enough shelter space available for the homeless.

According to a spokesperson from the City of Aliso Viejo, they are following the ruling of the Ninth Circuit federal court of appeals issued a recent ruling in a civil rights lawsuit decided against the City of Boise, Idaho that prohibited cities like Aliso Viejo from “criminalizing sleeping outside.”

In that decision, the court said: “[R]esisting the need to eat, sleep or engage in other life-sustaining activities is impossible [and] avoiding public places while engaging in this otherwise innocent conduct is also impossible . . . As long as the homeless plaintiffs do not have a single place where they can lawfully be, the challenged ordinances, as applied to them, effectively punish them for something for which they may not be convicted under the [E]igth Amendment — sleeping, eating, and other innocent conduct. . . ."

The Boise decision does not apply to “individuals who do have access to adequate temporary shelter.”

Aliso Viejo recently adopted a local ordinance codifying the Boise decision and has every intention of abiding by it.

The City’s housing element has been certified by the State and is on track to vastly exceed its goals for low-income and affordable housing. This is a laudable result brought to fruition on some of Orange County’s most expensive land.

The Orange County Coroner reported that 23 homeless individuals died in south Orange County cities in 2018.