“Here in Los Angeles, how did racism become embedded in the policies and structures of our new city,” he wrote. “What if there was a conscious e

The impossible task of ending homelessness in Los Angeles

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2021-05-14 15:26:17

“Here in Los Angeles, how did racism become embedded in the policies and structures of our new city,” he wrote. “What if there was a conscious effort, a deliberate intent, a cowardice of inaction?”

In more than 100 pages, Judge David O. Carter detailed the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles and its disparate impacts on Black residents. He was ruling on a case brought by the LA Alliance for Human Rights, a group formed in recent years for the purpose of suing the city and county of Los Angeles over the homelessness emergency.

Leaning on what some experts tell Vox are novel legal theories, Carter took homelessness policymaking into his own hands with a bold approach that seems heartening at first glance — but many of the court’s proposed reforms falter under scrutiny.

The orders kicked up a firestorm among homelessness advocates, affordable housing developers, and local governments. The homelessness crisis has ballooned in Los Angeles — in a June 2020 report, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority revealed an astonishing 66,436 unhoused people, a 12.7 percent increase over the previous year.