SANTA ANA (CNS) - Activists legally challenging a federal court settlement providing shelters for Orange County's homeless population Friday cheered a federal appeal's court's ruling this week to remove their lawsuit from federal court and send it back to a state court, but county officials are concerned it could make it tougher to keep the settlement agreement going.
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A central issue in the lawsuit revolves around the policy of homeless shelters in the county that require residents to remain in place instead of letting them come and go as they want.
"Our case is an important step to make Orange County treat persons who are unhoused as actual humans," said Patrick Bui, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit along with Oma's Angel Foundation. The American Civil Liberties Union and Kirkland & Ellis represent the plaintiffs.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that U.S. District Judge David O. Carter improperly assumed jurisdiction over the lawsuit, which was filed in December 2020 against the county, Anaheim and three shelter providers.
"The Ninth Circuit affirmed that unhoused residents challenging violations of the California Constitution and state laws have the right to have those claims heard in state court," attorney Adina Stohl said.
"All people, regardless of housing status, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and to live full and free lives in their communities," ACLU attorney Minouche Kandal said. "The polices we are challenging segregate unhoused community members, and like with all forms of unequal treatment, the lock-in policy is deeply denigrating."
The attorneys say the lock-in policy makes it difficult for transients to gain access to the shelters on their own or coming and going to get to jobs, doctor appointments, religious services or for other reasons.
But the lock-in policy was one of the agreements in the landmark federal court settlement before Carter that paved the way for shelters throughout northern and central Orange County. Advocates say that when the settlement comes up for renewal in a year or so that lifting that restriction may make it difficult to keep the agreement going.
Orange County Board Vice Chairman Doug Chaffee, who as a supervisor represents many of the cities involved in the shelter system in northern Orange County, said there are many reasons for the restrictions on letting transients come and go from shelters.
"That doesn't work because we have a scarcity of beds to start with and when somebody leaves we have to know that," Chaffee said. "It's not making the administration of it possible and could shut out other homeless people who might want the bed."
If there were a policy of allowing the sheltered to come and go when they want, it would require more staffing to manage it, Chaffee said.
"We're finding out now that it's more expensive than previously thought" to run the shelters, Chaffee said. "And it's hard to find staff to take the job."
For instance, he said, if the staff made meals for 100 residents of a shelter and 30 are out and about, that could cause issues.
City officials are wary of loitering around the shelters, Chaffee said.
"These rules were developed jointly with the shelters, and Judge Carter approved them," Chaffee said. "It was worked out by all concerned and approved by the judge."
In the Ninth Circuit ruling, the justices found "no basis for this suit having been heard in the district (federal) court. Neither party filed a motion to remove the case. ... Instead, the parties appeared in federal court after the state court stayed an ongoing state action pending the outcome of a dispute resolution process available in a separate federal lawsuit. The district court subsequently ordered that it, rather than the state court, would assume jurisdiction over all the injunctive and declaratory relief claims in the case while remanding the parties' damages claims to state court. No federal law or procedure permits a state lawsuit to be resolved in federal court in this manner."
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