U.S. appeals court overturns L.A. ban on homeless living in vehicles

U.S. appeals court overturns L.A. ban on homeless living in vehicles

By: Maura Dolan, Gale Holland
The Los Angeles Times
June19, 2014

A federal appeals court Thursday struck down Los Angeles' ban on
homeless people living in vehicles, declaring that the law "opens the
door to discriminatory enforcement" against the poor.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9thCircuit Court of Appeals unanimously
ruled that the city's ordinance, which bans people from living in cars
or recreational vehicles on city streets or in parking lots, is
unconstitutionally vague.

"This broad and cryptic statute criminalizes innocent behavior, making
it impossible for citizens to know how to keep their conduct within the
pale," Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the court.

Unlike other cities, which ban overnight parking or sleeping in
vehicles, Los Angeles' law prohibits using cars as "living quarters"
both overnight and "day-by-day, or otherwise."

The 1983 law came under fire in 2010 when a special Los Angeles police
task force began aggressively enforcing it in Venice in response to
citizen complaints.

A group of homeless car dwellers sued the city in 2011 but lost in
federal district court. The group then appealed.

In overturning the lower court, the 9th Circuit panel said the law had
resulted in "arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement."

The ban "is broad enough to cover any driver in Los Angeles who eats
food or transports personal belongings in his or her vehicle," the court
said. "It appears to be applied only to the homeless."

The ordinance can be violated even if somebody is not found sleeping in
a vehicle and even if the car is not filled with loads of personal
belongings, the court said. "There is no way to know what is required"
to violate it, Pregerson wrote.

Despite attempts by the homeless to comply with the law, "there appears
to be nothing they can do to avoid violating the statute short of
discarding all of their possessions or their vehicles, or leaving Los
Angeles," the ruling said.

Los Angeles officials had argued that the law was being enforced to
protect health and safety. Some of the homeless were arrested in cars
with garbage, pets and their personal belongings, the city said.

But the court said different police officers interpreted the law in
various ways, making it "incompatible with the concept of an evenhanded
administration of the law to the poor and to the rich that is
fundamental to a democratic society."

Pregerson, an appointee of President Carter, was joined by Judge Marsha
S. Berzon, a Clinton appointee, and Judge Morgan Christen, an Obama
appointee.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-los-angeles-homeless-vehicle-ban-overturned-20140619-story.html