Avoiding a possible contempt ruling, L.A. agrees to increase homeless beds

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To avoid a possible federal contempt ruling, the Los Angeles City Council has agreed to extend by two years the city’s commitment to maintain thousands of beds for homeless people and to shift its focus from removing street encampments to getting people indoors.The agreement, signed by all parties to the landmark case that is now in its sixth year, drops a requirement that the city remove 9,800 homeless encampments by next June.Instead, the city would have to place 19,600 homeless people into shelter or housing.

That number would include several thousand placements the city has already made under a 2022 settlement agreement.The city’s obligation under the settlement to create 12,915 shelter or permanent housing beds by next June would be increased to 14,000, and the city would then have to maintain at least 12,915 through June of 2029.After months of negotiation, the City Council approved the agreement in closed session Tuesday.It was posted on the court’s website Wednesday.

U.S.District Judge David O.

Carter scheduled a hearing Friday to review it.If Carter accepts the agreement, it would resolve three appeals the city has filed in the case, end a proceeding on whether to hold the city in contempt and lay to rest a dispute over how the city was counting encampment reductions.The L.A.Alliance for Human Rights, a group made up primarily of business and property owners who want cleaner streets, alleged in the 2020 lawsuit that the city had failed in its duty to address homelessness.

The lawsuit also named Los Angeles County, which reached a separate settlement in 2023.The advocacy group Los Angeles Community Action Network and the Los Angeles Catholic Workers intervened in the case, representing the interests of homeless people.Lawyers for L.A.Alliance contended that the city was obfuscating to cover up its inadequate efforts to comply with its settlement.Following a mon...