SANTA ANA — A legal group representing homeless inhabitants of the Civic Center plaza filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday, Aug. 1, against the city of Santa Ana and the county over alleged civil rights violations.
The Elder Law and Disability Center, a nonprofit organization with an office in Santa Ana, claims in the lawsuit that seven homeless people who live in tents and makeshift shelter at the Civic Center have been hit with citations and threatened with arrest by police, had their property seized without notice and destroyed or improperly stored, and were forced to move onto a concrete area known as the Plaza of the Flags that offers no shade or other shelter from the elements.
“Because it not only violates the (U.S.) Constitution, but the current actions also create a public health crisis, we had no choice but to file a lawsuit seeking an injunction to end those actions,” Brooke Weitzman, an attorney with the center which is the lead counsel on the lawsuit, said at the Santa Ana City Council meeting Tuesday night.
The Orange County Civic Center Joint Powers Authority, a governing body made up of the city and the county that oversees the Civic Center, is named as a co-defendant in the suit.
More than 200 people are believed to be residing at the Civic Center plaza area. About 400 homeless people sleep nightly at the nearby Courtyard homeless shelter on Santa Ana Boulevard that opened in October in an old bus terminal.
Most of the plaintiffs suffer physical and mental disabilities and are being subjected to discrimination, the lawsuit contends, including an Air Force veteran with a service-connected disability who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Items seized and discarded included identification and personal documents, medications, cell phones, clothing, tents and bedding, and what is not destroyed has been inadequately stored, according to the complaint.
“As a consequence of this enforcement action, Plaintiffs and others are fearful that, if they leave their property even momentarily to go to the bathroom, court, a medical appointment or other basic life function, what little they have will be seized and largely destroyed,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, includes Orange County Catholic Worker as a plaintiff, and also alleges that the enforcement has disrupted the volunteer mission of the longtime homeless service provider in Santa Ana, which for years has provided meals and other resources at the Civic Center.
“We all know that the criminalization of homelessness is ineffective, expensive and unconstitutional,” said Weitzman, adding that she believes Santa Ana has increased criminalization since declaring the homeless camp at the Civic Center a public health crisis last September.
The Elder Law and Disability Center seeks a court order to prevent the seizure of property, along with an order to replace seized and damaged property, and unspecified damages. The legal group filed a similar complaint against the county in February and received a court order protecting the property of homeless people living along a section of the Santa Ana River bike trail south of Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
