Laguna Beach settles lawsuit over homeless

Laguna Beach has settled a lawsuit over how it treats its homeless residents. KPCC’s Susan Valot reports.

The ACLU and a local law firm sued Laguna Beach and its police department in December. They claimed police would regularly harass, arrest, and ticket the homeless as if they were “criminals.” The suit said the officers claimed their actions were justified under a city ordinance that bans people from sleeping in public places.

The civil rights group sued to overturn the ordinance. Under the settlement, the city says police will no longer cite, arrest, or harass people under state law for sleeping in public places, unless it’s a matter of public health or safety. And the city’s agreed to toss out or seal previous citations and convictions for violating the “anti-sleeping” ordinance.

The city’s already repealed the main parts of the ordinance. It’s estimated that about 70 homeless people live in Laguna Beach. Nearly all are considered “chronically homeless.” Many of them are mentally or physically disabled.