A federal judge has continued settlement talks between the county of Los Angeles and a homelessness advocacy group until mid-January.
U.S. District Judge David Carter issued the order of continuance on Dec. 5. The hearing is scheduled for Jan. 17.
“We brought to the court a settlement proposal with the county and the court reviewed that settlement proposal and concluded that it wanted the parties to work harder to do more,” said attorney Matthew Umhofer, who is representing LA Alliance for Human Rights in the federal litigation.
"We're offering housing, services, and shelter to anybody who we're asking to move. That's what will be happening under the settlement as it unfolds."
The L.A. Alliance for Human Rights (LAAHR) sued the city and county in the Central District of California federal court alleging that negligence around addressing homelessness, a violation of due process and equal rights has caused businesses to suffer and property values to drop in Los Angeles.
“I anticipate both city and county officials will be in attendance and there will be a robust discussion about the county settlement and whether there's more to be done there,” Umhofer told the Southern California Record. “We think the deal we reached with the county is good, but we understand why the court wants more to be done.”
The amount of money that the county offered and that LAAHR accepted was $236 million
LAAHR reached a separate settlement with the city. But an outside group of advocates appealed that agreement to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, because they didn't like it, according to Umhofer.
All told, the city and county are expected to pay a combined $3.5 billion under the settlements to provide housing, shelter, and services to the homeless.
“We, along with the city, are opposing that appeal and we fully anticipate that the court of appeals will uphold the settlement we reached,” he said. “It's very rare for a court of appeals to upend a settlement reached by the parties. We think a $3 billion resolution is a very good and powerful resolution.”
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority determined that some 70,000 people are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County, compared to 42,000 in the city of Los Angeles.
“That's part of what has been lacking is a central place for these things to go,” Umhofer added. “You have different judges making different decisions around these issues and so our case was brought with the aim of unifying these kinds of cases under one judge who knows the issue, cares about it a lot, and is trying to make good decisions for people with concern for people's rights.”