Costa Mesa settles riverbed homeless lawsuit, agrees to open 50-bed shelter
Costa Mesa has committed to open a 50-bed homeless shelter as part of a settlement agreement it signed Monday in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed last year by disabled people forced out of a Santa Ana River Trail tent encampment.
The lawsuit’s plaintiffs alleged that several local governments had violated their constitutional rights by outlawing public camping in their cities while not also providing adequate shelter space for the homeless. Costa Mesa’s agreement means that all the cities still named as defendants in the lawsuit now have entered into settlements or partial settlements calling for them to open emergency shelters for the homeless.
Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley called the deal “historic,” saying it would lead to “compassionate solutions for those experiencing homelessness while at the same time making a commitment to improve and restore safety in our communities.”
U.S. District Judge David Carter, who is overseeing the case, has demanded that Orange County cities have enough shelter beds for 60 percent of the number of homeless people tallied in a 2017 point-in-time count. In all, Carter wants to see at least 1,550 beds for homeless people around the county, including 62 in Costa Mesa.
The city previously approved a 12-bed crisis unit to be operated by College Hospital. Last month, the city council approved an agreement to host a temporary 50-bed shelter at Lighthouse Church of the Nazarene, which could open by April. On Tuesday, the council is set to vote to pay nearly $7 million to acquire a property at 3175 Airway Ave., by John Wayne Airport, which could serve as a permanent location.
Costa Mesa’s settlement means it will resume enforcing its anti-camping laws once it opens a temporary shelter.
Orange County is now the only defendant in the case that has yet to enter into a settlement, but the two sides are expected to meet soon. Anaheim has a partial settlement that will need to be completed.
Brooke Weitzman, the plaintiffs’ attorney in the case, commended Costa Mesa for working “giving people an alternative to being stuck out in the rain.” She also challenged Costa Mesa and other cities to continue to develop plans for how to get homeless people out of shelters and into more permanent housing.
Weitzman and other attorneys filed a similar civil rights lawsuit on Feb. 28 against five south Orange County cities on behalf of homeless people and advocacy groups. The lawsuit is an effort to force Irvine, Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano to create emergency homeless shelters.