ACLU Pushes for a Settlement

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Lawyers representing the American Civil Liberties Union say they are willing to dismiss their lawsuit alleging that the policies and homeless shelter in Laguna Beach violates the Americans with Disabilities Act if the city will commit to 25 demands.

City Manager John Pietig rejected the proposal, and characterized the demands as “unreasonable.” In a statement, Pietig said both parties have participated in court-supervised discussions over a resolution, but now await the court’s ruling on the issues alleged.

In a tentative ruling issued last October, Central District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford supported class certification, which allowed the suit to move forward.

The suit was filed in federal court in 2015 on behalf of “some of the most vulnerable people in the Laguna Beach community – individuals with disabilities who experience chronic homelessness,” David M. Hernand, a lawyer working on behalf of the ACLU, said in a letter released Friday, Jan. 13.

“Just as local municipalities must operate schools and other public facilities in compliance with federal laws that protect persons with disabilities, the city’s operation of a homeless shelter must be similarly compliant,” said Hernand, in outlining the case’s assertions.

When the case was initially filed, Pietig pointed out that the ACLU asserted that the purpose of the lawsuit was to force Laguna Beach to unilaterally provide permanent supportive housing, dedicated apartments along with services such as mental health care and case management.

Due to the shelter and its staff, he said five of the seven plaintiffs and 39 others who were also formerly homeless in Laguna have found housing through non-profit organizations in the past two years.

Laguna has operated the only municipally funded shelter in the county since 2010. It opened in the wake of a settlement of an earlier suit by the ACLU filed in 2008, which challenged a local ordinance that permitted ticketing of people who had no place else to sleep. Part of the settlement terms forbid ticketing for a period of three years.

Last February, Guilford had denied a request for a court-ordered halt to enforcement of anti-camping laws in Laguna Beach and also cast doubt on the likelihood that the suit could succeed on its Eighth Amendment and ADA claims. Over the previous five years, police issued 540 citations for violation of the city’s anti-camping laws, the judge’s order and a court filing says.

“The City is proud of our community’s unparalleled efforts to assist those who find themselves homeless in Laguna Beach,” Pietig said. “We believe that those efforts go above and beyond what the law requires, and we will continue to defend those efforts in court,” he said.

Besides seeking the city’s commitment to build permanent supportive housing units, the demands outlined in Hernand’s letter include designating a coordinator to ensure that the shelter is ADA compliant, establishing a mechanism to address complaints by those who say the shelter is inaccessible, providing elevated cots for those with disabilities, providing restrooms in the parking lot for those who the 45-bed shelter can’t accommodate and establishing and posting clear policies about who will be given access.

 

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