The Anaheim City Council approved a settlement on Tuesday regarding a civil rights lawsuit involving Orange County and unhoused residents. The legal action, known as the Utzman v. County of Orange lawsuit, was filed in Superior Court in December 2020 by Oma’s Angel Foundation. The civil rights litigation focused on a previous policy that required shelter residents without cars to use designated transportation. Under the terms of the settlement approved by the Anaheim City Council on Tuesday, Anaheim agreed not to restrict unhoused people’s movement around shelters. The settlement concludes aspects of the ongoing legal challenges brought forward regarding shelter operations and the treatment of unhoused individuals in the region.
Minouche Kandel provided statements concerning the resolution of the Utzman v. County of Orange lawsuit, which were obtained by a local news report. In discussing the outcome of the legal challenge regarding the previous policy that required shelter residents without cars to use designated transportation, Minouche Kandel described the broader impact of the agreement.
"This agreement benefits the entire community because it will help to ensure that no one has to endure sexual harassment, invasive searches or dangerous living conditions simply because they need a place to sleep," Minouche Kandel told a local news report.
Minouche Kandel further elaborated on the advocacy and litigation initiated when Oma’s Angel Foundation filed the Utzman v. County of Orange lawsuit in Superior Court in December 2020. The civil rights lawsuit addressed conditions involving unhoused residents, the civil rights lawsuit involving Orange County, and the previous policy that required shelter residents without cars to use designated transportation, all of which led to the settlement approved by the Anaheim City Council on Tuesday.
"Our clients spent nearly six years fighting policies that stripped people of their dignity and treated them as people to be hidden from public view. This settlement is an important milestone, but we are not done. We hope Orange County can also agree to not violate the constitutional rights of our unhoused neighbors. Everyone deserves safe, stable housing, not shelters that violate their basic rights," Minouche Kandel told a local news report.
