HOMELESSNESS IS NOT A CRIME: SENATOR PÉREZ INTRODUCES GROUNDBREAKING PROTECTION BILL 

Sacramento, California (March 25, 2025) — Yesterday Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-25) introduced the Homeless Rights Protection Act (SB 634), groundbreaking legislation that prevents criminalizing people experiencing homelessness engaged in necessary day-to-day survival activities. Senate Bill 634 prohibits local and state authorities from imposing penalties—including jail time or fines—on unhoused individuals for acts related to their basic survival, and protects those providing assistance to homeless individuals. 

“I know what it’s like to lose loved ones to the homelessness crisis, and have seen the devastating impacts of policies that criminalize poverty. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, I feared that more California cities would seek to jail and fine individuals for simply being homeless. Those fears have become a reality,” said Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena). “I’ve introduced SB 634 because it is critical for California to draw the line – issuing fines and jail time to people who have nowhere to live is inhumane. Threatening to charge charity workers for offering water to someone living in poverty is immoral. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor shared in her dissenting opinion in Grants Pass, ‘Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime.’ Our legislation will stop punitive policies that perpetuate the cycle of poverty, so California can focus on real solutions to the homelessness crisis.” 

This critical and transformative policy marks a shift, from ineffective, highly-politicized approaches to homelessness that create additional barriers to housing, to solutions that provide stability. By eliminating punitive policies, this bill addresses legal and financial obstacles that prevent vulnerable Californians from accessing housing, services, employment, and other essential support. 

“People who have lived through homelessness, researchers, service providers, and even law enforcement, they all tell us the same thing: that arresting and fining people doesn’t just fail to address homelessness, it makes it harder to solve,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of National Alliance to End Homelessness. “I applaud Senator Pérez for bringing this bill forward so cities can stop trying to cut corners and can instead refocus on proven approaches to ending homelessness.” 

The scale of California’s homelessness demands urgent solutions. The 2024 Homeless Point-in-Time Count recorded approximately 187,000 homeless individuals on a single night, with estimates suggesting 300,000 experienced homelessness throughout the year. California accounts for 24% of the nation’s homeless population—the highest of any state. Communities of color bear a disproportionate burden, with Black Californians experiencing the highest rates of homelessness relative to their share of the general population. 

“Disability Rights California (DRC) applauds Senator Sasha Renée Pérez for introducing SB 634, a critically needed bill to uphold fundamental civil and human rights to the most marginalized Californians,” says Gregory Cramer, Associate Director of Public Policy at DRC. “This bill is a refreshing departure from the callous and futile anti-homeless ordinances that seek to criminalize or in debt unhoused Californians for being unable to enter the nation’s most expensive rental market. These ordinances disproportionately harm disabled people, who make up nearly 43% of California’s unhoused population. Nobody should face jail or insurmountable poverty because of government failure, and certainly, we should not be jailing people who supply food or survival gear to those in need.” 

Two-thirds of California’s homeless population lives unsheltered, exposed to extreme weather, poor air quality, and other dangers. With only a fraction of the shelter beds we need available statewide, thousands die outdoors annually. Among those affected are older adults, veterans, youth, and domestic violence survivors. Nearly half report disabilities, with Black, Indigenous, and transgender individuals disproportionately impacted. 

“The bill is a necessary step to ensure that California holds true to its values and honors the dignity of all of its residents,” said Brandon Greene, Director of Policy Advocacy for the Western Center on Law and Poverty. “Criminalizing people for engaging in necessary life sustaining activities is not only immoral but it is counterproductive to the racial and economic aims of our state.” 

California’s homelessness crisis stems from a severe shortage of affordable housing for its poorest residents. Among the state’s 1.2 million extremely low-income households, over 1 million struggle with housing costs, with 936,000 spending more than half their income on rent. These Californians face impossible daily choices between making rent and meeting basic needs like food and healthcare. 

“It is inhumane and unacceptable to criminalize houseless people for our state’s failure to build affordable housing and provide supportive services at the scale of the problem,” said Michelle Pariset, Director of Legislative Affairs with Public Advocates. “Post-Grants Pass, there is nothing preventing jurisdictions from acting on their worst impulses towards houseless people and several jurisdictions are enacting cruel and harmful ordinances – like the ones proposed in Fremont, San Jose, and Fresno. Senator Pérez understands that $1000 tickets won’t house anyone and we are thankful for her leadership.” 

There are a number of ways that jail time, fines, and fees stemming from these ordinances contribute to pushing solutions further out of reach. Jailing people experiencing homelessness severs ties and undermines trust. Jail time makes it harder to get back into housing. Fines prolong homelessness. Fines and jail time double down on racial inequities. Criminal penalties make communities less safe. 

“California’s goal should be to fight poverty, not to fight the poor. This becomes especially important when we consider our current national landscape, with ongoing attacks on vital public programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, attacks on the VA, proposed tax cuts for the wealthy and tax increases for everyone else, and the targeting of vulnerable populations,” said Ishvaku Vashishtha, Equal Justice Works Fellow with Inner City Law Center. “These policies will deepen poverty, exacerbate inequality, and expose more people to housing instability. California can choose a better path, one that doesn’t punish people for their poverty and housing status.” 

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Media Contact: Jacqueline Burbank, Communications Manager, Inner City Law Center, jburbank@innercitylaw.org or (213) 947-7902

Media Contact: Sumeet Bal, Director of Communications, Public Advocates, sbal@publicadvocates.org, 917.647.1952 

Renters in Los Angeles — don’t panic! If you have questions about your tenant rights in the midst of the wildfire chaos, Inner City Law Center attorneys have answers. Read more at LAist.

On December 12, lawyers from Inner City Law Center and Winston & Strawn LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of tenants at Renato Apartments, who have been living in exceptionally dangerous slum housing conditions. Last week, reporters visited the Skid Row building to document the conditions for themselves, and what they found was appalling. Get the full story at at ABC7.

Envisioned as a beacon of hope for struggling tenants, the sinister reality of the Renato Apartments is an inhumane nightmare.

Los Angeles, CA (December 18, 2024) — On Thursday, December 12, lawyers from Inner City Law Center and Winston & Strawn LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of tenants at Renato Apartments, who have been living in exceptionally dangerous slum housing conditions.  

The building, which was partially constructed using a $9.5 million loan from the City of Los Angeles, is owned and managed by Single Room Occupancy Housing Corporation and Renato Apartments, L.P. The lawsuit explains that the Defendants deliberately, and with blatant indifference to the harm being caused to the tenants, failed to maintain the building, make necessary repairs, and protect tenants from trespassers who freely enter the unsecured entrances and commit vandalism and theft.  

The building is a supportive housing apartment complex comprised of furnished single-room occupancy units. Tenants residing in the building are especially vulnerable, as their income falls well below the poverty line, and most reside in government-subsidized units reserved for individuals struggling with both chronic homelessness and mental health issues. In addition to their rent being subsidized by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, many tenants depend on CalWORKs, Social Security Disability Income, and similar programs in order to survive. 

Paradoxically, the building was praised as a safe haven and beacon of hope in the Skid Row community at its grand opening in 2010, which was attended by former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other political luminaries.  

The nightmarish conditions in the building arise from the landlord’s deliberate neglect and extreme ineptitude. A number of people have perished in in the building due to murders, drug overdoses, and suicides, which has mostly gone ignored by the landlords.  

The hallways and stairwells are littered with graffiti, drug paraphernalia, and urine and feces from both humans and animals. Residents recount an array of past and ongoing habitability issues, including slow (or nonexistent) responses to complaints about broken elevators, raw sewage flooding into their homes, long-term bedbug and cockroach infestations, rampant mold, inoperable smoke detectors, crumbling walls and ceilings, broken doors and locks, and other intolerable conditions.  

In addition to the horrific living conditions, tenants are also experiencing ongoing harassment and elder abuse from the landlords. As Perry Friedman, a resident at Renato since 2011 states, “It is shameful beyond belief that [the owners and management] would make life harder for people that already have it extremely hard.” Friedman recalls one particularly devastating incident where a decorated veteran committed suicide by jumping from the fifth floor. Tenants were forced to walk past his mangled body for hours as it lay in the courtyard of the building. Even after the tenant’s body was removed, management did not sufficiently clean up the blood and human matter, thereby forcing tenants to do it themselves. Such gruesome and trauma-inducing incidents are the realities these tenants live with every day.   

“The landlords’ mistreatment and exploitation of some of Los Angeles’ most vulnerable community members is abhorrent,” states Inner City Law Center Senior Staff Attorney Deborah Hoetger. “These tenants, all of whom have suffered chronic homelessness and mental illness, were promised a safe, clean place to live. However, their landlords have provided the opposite: unsafe, unhealthy, and downright dangerous living conditions.”   

Long-time Renato resident Booker T. Washington exclaims, “it’s about time” a suit has been brought against Defendants. “For years, residents have filed numerous complaints and notices against the landlords,” said Washington. Washington even trekked all the way to San Francisco by himself to consult the San Francisco Housing Authority because public agencies in Los Angeles have failed to adequately address the deplorable habitability conditions.  

As much as the tenants wish to see the building owners and managers brought to justice, the camaraderie they’ve nurtured from fighting together has also created much needed hope among tenants. “Seeing all the residents band together to fight for their rights, even as they’re busy fighting to survive day-by-day, proves just how bad the situation is,” Washington said. “I believe in fighting, and now we can fight together.”   

You can read the full complaint here  

Plaintiffs in Washington v. Renato Apartments, LP are 20 former and current residents. The case is a joint effort between the Inner City Law Center and Winston & Strawn LLP. 

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About Inner City Law Center 

Inner City Law Center is a nonprofit, poverty-law firm headquartered in Skid Row, working to end the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles.  

Inner City Law Center’s staff of more than 145 (including 70 lawyers), together with hundreds of volunteers, fight for people facing eviction, struggling with landlord harassment, fighting to secure their veteran or disability benefits or standing up to slum housing conditions.  

Contact: Jacqueline Burbank, Communications Manager, jburbank@innercitylaw.org or (213) 947-7902

About Winston & Strawn LLP 

Winston & Strawn LLP is an international law firm with 15 offices in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. More information about the firm is available at www.winston.com.  

The pro bono attorneys from Winston & Strawn are Paul Salvaty, Gregory A. Ellis, Michael Lavetter, and Veronica Stoever from the Los Angeles office, and Jenna Qi Han and Vito Vang from the San Francisco office.  

Los Angeles, CA (November 6, 2024) — Inner City Law Center’s commitment to housing justice is unwavering. No matter the political landscape, we fight for a Los Angeles where everyone has a safe place to call home. We are proud to stand with you in this struggle.

We are pleased to share that L.A. County Measure A appears on track to pass! This is a very important victory that will create new affordable housing and bolster local homeless services.

We are deeply concerned about the implications of yesterday’s national election results for our clients and the communities that we serve. In particular, we are concerned about increased criminalization of homelessness, decreased enforcement of housing discrimination laws, and the gutting of HUD and federal programs that serve the poorest and most vulnerable Angelenos. We will resist these efforts.

From our offices in Skid Row, Inner City Law Center will continue to zealously represent our clients and advocate for policies that protect tenants and address homelessness. No matter what, we will continue:

By standing together, we can resist efforts to make us a crueler, less humane country. With your ongoing support, we’re prepared to keep fighting tirelessly for justice and compassion in housing.

Thank you for standing with us.

Donate to Support Our Vital Work

Los Angeles Landlords now face $2,000 fines for Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance violations.

Los Angeles, CA (October 31, 2024) — On Wednesday afternoon, Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted 11-0 to strengthen the Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance (TAHO) adopted by the city in 2021. The original ordnance gave tenants two important rights: 1) the right to sue their landlords for harassment and 2) the right to use landlord harassment as a defense against eviction.

While the original ordinance was an important step for renter protections, the law carried very little weight behind it and landlords rarely faced consequences for harassing their tenants. The changes Los Angeles City Council made to the ordinance today will bolster renter protections in several ways, including expanding the definition of harassment to “a landlord’s bad faith conduct” that targets and harms tenants and—most importantly—fining landlords $2,000 for every violation of TAHO.

“Previously, the Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance was all too often unenforceable, leaving our tenants at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords. These amendments to TAHO will give our clients real power to protect their families and homes from harassment,” said Inner City Law Center Public Policy Advocate Shane Henson.

This is a resounding victory for the entire Keep LA Housed Coalition (including Inner City Law Center), which has actively campaigned for these essential amendments to TAHO since 2023.

Yesterday, the Keep LA Housed coalition tweeted, “VICTORY! Today LA City Council voted 11-0 in favor to amend & strengthen Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance! This fight took over a year of organizing led by directly impacted tenants. We thank & deeply appreciate @cd4losangeles @cd1losangeles @CD13LosAngeles for their leadership”

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About Inner City Law Center

Inner City Law Center is a nonprofit, poverty-law firm headquartered in Skid Row, working to end the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles.

Inner City Law Center’s staff of more than 145 (including 70 lawyers), together with hundreds of volunteers, fight for people facing eviction, struggling with landlord harassment, fighting to secure their veteran or disability benefits or standing up to slum housing conditions.

Media Contact: Jacqueline Burbank, Communications Manager, jburbank@innercitylaw.org or (213) 947-7902

As part of National Pro Bono Week, we’re highlighting the incredible work of Max Lee, of Law Office of Maximilian Lee, APC, a longtime pro bono partner of Inner City Law Center. Recently, Max stepped up to represent JT*, a 71-year-old disabled veteran, in a high-stakes eviction trial when JT faced losing his home of 28 years following his wife’s death.

Max attended nine trial hearings and spent countless hours preparing to fight for JT’s right to remain in his home. Despite the landlord’s attempts to misrepresent evidence, Max secured a verdict in JT’s favor, ensuring that he would remain in his home. 

Max’s dedication to this case, his advocacy for housing justice, and his ongoing commitment to ICLC’s clients exemplify the profound impact of pro bono work. Thank you, Max, for making a difference in the lives of those most in need! 

*The client’s name has been changed to preserve confidentiality.  

Historic undercover investigation found rampant discrimination & clear violations of the law by real estate companies against families with Housing Choice Vouchers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose

Los Angeles, CA (October 8, 2024) — A sweeping undercover investigation by the housing watchdog group Housing Rights Initiative (HRI) has resulted in the filing of what appears to be the largest housing discrimination case in California’s history against 203 real estate agents, brokerage firms and landlords for illegally discriminating against families with Housing Choice Vouchers (“Section 8”). The 112 complaints (against 203 defendants) were filed en masse with the California Civil Rights Department. The defendants include some of the largest real estate companies in the country: Coldwell Banker, EXP Realty, Sotheby’s International Realty, and RE/MAX. 

HRI is being represented by the Inner City Law Center, Cohen Milstein PLLC, and Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC.

In 2019, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 329, which made it illegal for landlords and brokers to discriminate against tenants with housing vouchers. This historic filing serves as an opportunity for the Governor and his housing enforcement agency to enforce the very bill he signed into law and hold violators accountable. 

Over the course of a year, HRI trained, equipped, and deployed an army of undercover investigators, who posed as prospective tenants with Section 8 vouchers. These investigators contacted hundreds of brokers and landlords by text message to determine compliance with California’s fair housing laws. For completed tests (in which our investigators were able to conclusively determine whether a real estate company accepted vouchers), HRI found that voucher holders were explicitly discriminated against 44% of the time in San Francisco, 53% of the time in Oakland, 58% of the time in San Jose, and a whopping 70% of the time in Los Angeles.

Below are just a few examples of the alleged discrimination HRI uncovered during the course of its investigation:

  • The complaints allege that a broker at EXP Realty, which is one of the largest brokerage firms in the county, illegally discriminated against one of HRI’s undercover investigators:
  • The complaints allege that a broker at Sotheby’s International Realty, a leading multinational real estate company, illegally rejected the voucher of one of HRI’s testers:
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is AD_4nXeqm8DK_LkR96mYwxU2kTMzZ8HAKsoivzriagdDpLm_fU2vjVZwzMEUypqVrQRvOHbTj-cRG0lOf6yvtOF0py7vYE6ijXbDuSXccmglGVZiMfiUiuM6q8WDiVa6_uIrZCfrhxaT_I4nf6ux1OPJjrqKi7k8

The full list of alleged violators and screenshots of the discriminatory and illegal conduct broken down by city can be found here (Important note: Rely on columns B and C for the identities of the real estate companies, as the screenshots of the text message exchanges themselves may have obsolete contact names that are automatically populated by Google Voice): Evidence of Discrimination 

The goal of these filings is to get the real estate companies to stop their discriminatory housing practices and exacerbating California’s homelessness and affordable housing crisis.

Furthermore, the result of HRI’s investigation underscores the need for proactive and systematic enforcement to combat housing discrimination and for the State of California to provide adequate funding for the California Civil Rights Department to meet the scale of the problem. At the end of the day, whatever our non-profit can do, the government could do better, if it had the resources and the political will to get the job done. 

The national implications of this filing are clear: If housing discrimination is going unchecked in the largest and most well resourced state in America, this same problem is happening everywhere. 

“In 2019, Governor Newsom banned housing voucher discrimination in the state of California. The goal of this historic filing is to enforce the very bill he signed into law with the power of his own enforcement agency,” said Aaron Carr, Founder and Executive Director of Housing Rights Initiative. “It’s time for California to get tough on real estate crime.” 

“This mass filing, as historic as it is, represents just a fraction of the voucher discrimination that has been running rampant in California. By exposing this widespread and harmful practice, we call on the State to provide agencies like the California Civil Rights Department with the resources they need to eradicate voucher discrimination once and for all,” said Kate Liggett, Program Director of Housing Rights Initiative.

“This landmark filing with the California Civil Rights Department shines a spotlight on the insidious and illegal practice of discriminating against families with Housing Choice Vouchers,” said David Smith, Director of Litigation at Inner City Law Center. “This filing will hold landlords and brokers accountable for engaging in this unlawful conduct, and hopefully result in more funding and resources being devoted to government investigation and enforcement.

Matthew Handley, partner at Handley Farah & Anderson added “Source of income discrimination in California is a pernicious and persistent problem, further aggravating the affordable housing crisis that has plagued the state for years.  These complaints aim to stop this practice.”

“Housing affordability is a national crisis, especially in California, where too many people pay an excessive proportion of their income for rent and are at risk of homelessness. Housing vouchers are one of the most successful methods for addressing this problem by ensuring families have access to safe and secure housing, and hundreds of thousands of Californians rely on vouchers to help pay their rent. But too often, discrimination against voucher holders only exacerbates the homelessness crisis. And because vouchers are disproportionately used by racial minorities, the elderly, and those with disabilities, this form of discrimination also has a disparate effect on these groups,” said Brian Corman, partner at Cohen Milstein, who helps lead the firm’s Fair Housing litigation efforts. “This lawsuit should send a clear message to landlords, property managers, and brokers, many of whom operate across the state and country, that housing discrimination will not be tolerated. It’s against the law. Period.”

“The persistent and widespread nature of this type of discrimination showcases the dire lack of affordable housing options available on the market here in California. Expanding the supply of affordable housing would mean corporate landlords being less likely to turn qualified tenants, including those with Section 8 vouchers, away, and to “cherry pick” their tenants, as there will be more available units, as opposed to the status quo where tenants are forced to compete for the same few units. All of these qualified tenants – just like you and I – are simply searching for stable housing, something we all have a right to, ” said Francisco Dueñas, Executive Director of Housing Now! “Governor Newsom made a promise to bring one million new affordable homes to the state by 2030. Currently, only 12% of that funding needed to meet that goal has been committed. It’s time for him to make due on his promise and bring affordable homes to the people of California.”

“SB 329 was a critical step toward preventing discrimination against voucher holders – it enabled us to hold landlords accountable when they deny housing to a prospective tenant because of their voucher,” said Chione Flegal, Executive Director at Housing California. “But the Housing Rights Initiative’s critical work shows that without sufficient enforcement of the law, discrimination against voucher holders will continue. We look forward to working to strengthen enforcement of SB 329 and ensure that low-income tenants can use their vouchers to access the dignified housing they deserve.”

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About Housing Rights Initiative – Housing Rights Initiative takes a proactive and systematic approach to targeting, investigating, and fighting fraudulent real estate practices, promoting fair housing, and connecting tenants to legal support. HRI educates tenants about their rights to fair and affordable housing, launches investigations, and generates class-action lawsuits against predatory real estate companies. Through a legal mobilization effort, HRI lays the foundation for tenants who have been defrauded or discriminated against by the real estate industry, to seek redress and secure their rights under the law. HRI’s successful investigations into and class action lawsuits against Kushner Companies were featured in the Netflix documentary Dirty Money. www.housingrightsUS.org

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About Inner City Law Center – Inner City Law Center is a nonprofit, poverty-law firm headquartered in Skid Row, working to end the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles. Inner City Law Center’s staff of more than 130 (including 70 lawyers), together with hundreds of volunteers, fight for people facing eviction, struggling with landlord harassment, fighting to secure their veteran or disability benefits, or standing up to slum housing conditions. http://www.innercitylaw.org/

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About Handley Farah & Anderson – Handley Farah & Anderson are lawyers who seek to improve the world.  They fight for: workers deprived of wages, consumers deceived about products, tenants denied access to housing, farmers mistreated by processors, parents deprived of adequate parental leave, investors who were defrauded, small businesses harmed by antitrust violations, persons with disabilities denied access, whistleblowers who uncover fraud, and women and communities of color subject to discrimination.

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About Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll – Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, a premier U.S. plaintiffs’ law firm, with over 100 attorneys across eight offices, champions the causes of real people—workers, consumers, small business owners, investors, and whistleblowers—working to deliver corporate reforms and fair markets for the common good. https://www.cohenmilstein.com/.

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Media Contacts:
Michael Shank, Housing Rights Initiative, press@housingrightsus.org
Jacqueline Burbank, Inner City, jburbank@innercitylaw.org, (323) 208-1505
Mason Miller, Cohen Milstein, mason.miller@berlinrosen.com, (704) 733-7685

Los Angeles, CA (September 26, 2024) – On Thursday, October 3, Inner City Law Center and over a dozen partner organizations will come together to serve the unhoused community with the biannual  Skid  Row Community Connect Day Resources Fair in the parking lot of Inner City Law Center headquarters. This walk-in event is free and open to the public. ICLC’s last Community Connect Day event served over 100 unhoused community members and dozens of their pets.

The event will take place from 10:00am to 2:00pm on Thursday, October 3, 2024 at Inner City Law Center’s headquarters located at 1309 E 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90021.

Inner City Law Center will offer free resources and legal services for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, including legal advice, veteran services, public benefits assistance, and a vital documents clinic. Other services and resources offered at the event include housing placement, medical screenings, job placement, pet services, anti-discrimination support, mental health services, Covid-19 vaccines, and fresh produce.

Partner organizations joining us on October 3 include: Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Food on Foot, K9 Connection by The People Concern, LA CAN, Los Angeles Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department, Los Angeles Department of Public Social Services (DPSS), Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), Los Angeles Public Health Department, The Midnight Mission, My Friend’s Place, People Assisting the Homeless (PATH), Prime Quality Produce, The Sidewalk Project, Wesley Health Cares.

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About Inner City Law Center

Inner City Law Center is a nonprofit, poverty-law firm headquartered in skid row, working to end the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles.

Inner City Law Center’s staff of more than 130 (including 70 lawyers), together with hundreds of volunteers, fight for people facing eviction, struggling with landlord harassment, fighting to secure their veteran or disability benefits, or standing up to slum housing conditions.

The passage of these bills and many others aimed at streamlining housing production and increasing reporting transparency indicate housing is still the number one issue for Californians.  

Los Angeles, CA (September 25, 2024) — Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two bills sponsored by Inner City Law Center—AB 2667 and SB 7.  

“Cutting red tape and increasing affordable housing production is a key element to solving homelessness in California,” said Inner City Law Center CEO Adam Murray. “Both AB 2667 and SB 7 bring us closer to that goal.”  

AB 2667 strengthens existing statewide law to affirmatively further fair housing while bolstering reporting and increasing transparency. The bill also provides enforcement tools for bringing local housing elements into compliance with state law, including fines and court-ordered solutions.  

SB 7 improves the regional housing needs assessment process, closing loopholes and ensuring each county and city be held accountable for building their fair share of the housing Californians so desperately need.   

“By requiring uniform metrics, SB7 gives us a more accurate picture of how successful California’s laws to affirmatively further fair housing are being executed,” Mahdi Manji. “That accurate picture is vital if we are going to effectively dismantle systemic housing discrimination.”   

Governor Newsom also signed two other bills Inner City Law Center strongly supported: AB 1893, which clarifies the Builders Remedy to allow mixed-income housing development in localities without compliant housing elements, and AB 2243, which allows mixed-income housing on land zoned for commercial use. 

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About Inner City Law Center 

Inner City Law Center is a nonprofit, poverty-law firm headquartered in Skid Row, working to end the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles.  

Inner City Law Center’s staff of more than 130 (including 70 lawyers), together with hundreds of volunteers, fight for people facing eviction, struggling with landlord harassment, fighting to secure their veteran or disability benefits, or standing up to slum housing conditions.   

Los Angeles, CA (September 6, 2024) — In a watershed win for veterans, the court has ordered the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to build thousands of new units of housing for low-income veterans on the West Los Angeles campus.

“This ruling is a landmark victory for veterans everywhere, but in particular homeless Veterans with severe mental illness. Judge Carter’s order paves the way for more than 2,500 new units of housing for homeless veterans who, as a result, will finally have the stable housing and meaningful access to healthcare and support they need and that the VA should have provided them all along,” said Inner City Law Center Supervising Attorney Amanda Powell, an attorney on the case.    

The court did not mince words in its ruling, saying, “The VA in West Los Angeles, however, has for decades strayed from its mission to care for these veterans. Charged with maintaining land deeded to the United States to be used as a home for disabled soldiers more than a century ago, the West LA VA has failed to serve the veterans who served their country. Veterans have seen the government swiftly deploy its resources to send them into conflict, then claim an inability to overcome funding shortfalls and administrative hurdles when they need shelter and housing back at home.

“The VA for years has failed to provide sufficient housing and has ignored warnings from their own Office of Inspector General and prior federal court rulings that their use of the land was illegal. As Plaintiffs’ health deteriorated on the sidewalks of San Vicente [Blvd.], VA officials inside the gates entered into lucrative land deals. Instead of serving veterans, the West LA VA has served its wealthy and powerful neighbors, bowing to private interests backed by lobbyists and engaging in back-room deals and fraud. Leadership at the VA made these choices not to principally benefit veterans, but out of fear of being sued by people with far more resources than unhoused, disabled veterans. After selling and leasing off land given to them in trust, the VA now argues they are out of land to build housing for veterans. The VA’s alleged scarcity of land is self-imposed.

“What was once a home for disabled soldiers must fully reopen its gates and become a robust community for veterans once again. It is time for the VA’s leadership at the highest levels to recognize its obligation and mission statement to care for those who have borne the battle. It is time for the disabled veterans of Los Angeles to come home.”

You can read the Powers v. McDonough opinion here, and the L.A. Times coverage here.

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About Inner City Law Center  

Inner City Law Center is a nonprofit, poverty-law firm located in the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles and working to end the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles.   

Inner City Law Center’s staff of more than 130 (including 70 lawyers), together with hundreds of volunteers, fight for people facing eviction, struggling with landlord harassment, fighting to secure their veteran or disability benefits, or standing up to slum housing conditions.   

Contact: Jacqueline Burbank, Communications Manager, jburbank@innercitylaw.org or (213) 947-7902

Los Angeles, CA (July 21, 2024) — In a landmark decision, a federal judge has ruled that by allowing third-party housing developers to impose income limitations that disqualify veterans from accessing affordable housing, the VA is discriminating against disabled veterans.

This ruling comes after Inner City Law Center, Public Counsel, Brown, Goldstein & Levy, and Robins Kaplan LLP filed a lawsuit in 2022 on behalf of fourteen veterans experiencing homelessness.

“While there are still significant issues that must be decided, this ruling lays a solid foundation for trial next month and reinforces the duty that the VA has to provide a home to our homeless veterans with severe mental illness,” said Inner City Law Center Supervising Attorney Amanda Powell.

Media Coverage

Los Angeles Times — VA housing policy discriminates against disabled veterans, federal judge rules
Laist — Judge finds illegal discrimination blocks some disabled veterans from housing at West LA VA campus
Courthouse News Service — Judge blasts VA for renting out land meant to house homeless vets

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About Inner City Law Center  

Inner City Law Center is a nonprofit, poverty-law firm located in the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles and working to end the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles.   

Inner City Law Center’s staff of more than 130 (including 70 lawyers), together with hundreds of volunteers, fight for people facing eviction, struggling with landlord harassment, fighting to secure their veteran or disability benefits, or standing up to slum housing conditions.   

Contact: Jacqueline Burbank, Communications Manager, jburbank@innercitylaw.org or (213) 947-7902

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