The Brief
- A federal judge ruled that the city of LA failed to meet its obligations under a homelessness settlement and must submit an updated plan by Oct. 3 to create nearly 13,000 shelter beds by June 2027.
- The judge found the city consistently uncooperative, withholding documentation unless compelled, and disputing audit findings instead of addressing shortcomings.
LOS ANGELES – A federal judge determined that Los Angeles failed to meet its obligations under a settlement agreement with the LA Alliance for Human Rights and must provide an updated plan detailing how it will create almost 13,000 shelter beds for homeless residents by the end of June 2027, according to court papers obtained Wednesday.
Judge slams LA for noncompliance in homelessness case
What we know:
In an order filed Tuesday by U.S. District Judge David Carter, he wrote that the city has shown “a consistent lack of cooperation and responsiveness — an unwillingness to provide documentation unless compelled by court order or media scrutiny.”
Carter stopped short of finding that the city breached the agreement on the whole and declined the “last resort” of appointing a receiver to enforce the city’s compliance with the lawsuit settlement, as requested by plaintiffs. But the court did institute a federal monitor to oversee compliance “and ask the hard questions on behalf of Angelenos,” the judge wrote.
The order comes after a seven-day evidentiary hearing in which the LA Alliance, a coalition of business owners, city and county residents, alleged that the city’s refusal to provide updated plans, meet its milestones, correct its encampment reduction numbers, and verify its reporting has unnecessarily and unfairly wasted the resources of the parties and the court.…