City settles homeless suit

The ACLU of Southern California has agreed to drop a lawsuit against the city of Laguna Beach over treatment of chronically homeless people, the ACLU announced Thursday.

Under the settlement agreement, police will not cite, arrest or harass people under state law for sleeping in public places, as long as there are no public health or safety concerns, the ACLU said in a statement.

The agreement also requires the city to “seal, expunge or destroy” citations that were written, and convictions obtained, under the city’s own “anti-sleeping” ordinance, which has been repealed.

The City Council repealed key portions of the “anti-sleeping” ordinance after being sued in December by the ACLU, the law firm of Irell & Manella LLP, and Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UCI law school.

“This settlement agreement builds on the city’s repeal of its anti-sleeping ordinance, and is one more important step toward decriminalizing homelessness in Laguna Beach,” said Hector Villagra, director of the Orange County office of the ACLU.

The city denies criminalizing homelessness, City Manager Ken Frank said in a separate press statement. “The settlement of the litigation will allow the community to move forward with its efforts to determine the appropriate approach to address homelessness in Laguna Beach,” the city statement reads.