A judge handed down a legal victory for the city of Los Angeles on Friday, agreeing to dismiss a lawsuit that sought to attack Mayor Karen Bass’s declaration of the city’s state of emergency regarding homelessness and housing.
LA County Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin granted a request by the city’s attorney to throw out a lawsuit from Fix the City, a Westside-based organization that called the emergency declaration an “excessive and illegal mayoral expansion.”
Bass declared a homelessness emergency on his first day in office in December 2022, promising “a sea change in how the city deals with homelessness.” In July 2023, he signed an updated emergency declaration on homelessness and housing, after the council issued a new law explaining the criteria needed to make the declaration.
The emergency declaration provides the mayor’s team with the power to award contracts, sign rental agreements, suspend competitive bidding, command properties and lift regulations on the production of affordable housing, among others.
Attorneys for City Fix argued that Bass was barred from making the declaration, in part because city law defines a local emergency as an “incident” beyond the control of normal government operations. Emergencies, the lawyer said, apply to sudden or unexpected events, such as earthquakes or floods.
“While a tragic concern, homelessness and affordable housing are not ‘happenings,’ and are chronic conditions that have plagued the city for decades,” the group said in the lawsuit.
Repair City also said the emergency declaration violates state laws, including the California Emergency Services Act, which defines a local emergency as a situation of “disaster or extreme danger” caused by fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, cyberterrorism or various other events.
Kin sided with the city’s legal team, concluding that LA law on homelessness emergencies does not conflict with either city or state law. He also disagreed with Fix the City’s assessment that the emergency declaration violates laws aimed at ensuring that local governments participate in competitive bidding.
Bass’ assistant did not immediately comment on the judge’s decision. City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, in a statement, said she was “pleased” her office was able to defend the emergency homeless ordinance. The mayor’s emergency declaration, and subsequent initiatives, have accelerated the city’s progress in “getting people the help they desperately need,” Feldstein Soto said.
Mike Eveloff, president of Fix the City, called the decision “logically, factually and legally wrong.”
“We will immediately appeal,” he said.
Under rules approved last summer, the mayor has the power to declare a homelessness and housing emergency if LA’s homeless population is more than twice the number of interim homeless beds in the city. An emergency could also be declared if LA’s housing supply is projected to be at least 40% below annual production targets, or if the city’s homeless population increases by more than 20% in a year.
The emergency declaration has led Bass’ team to sign lease agreements with dozens of hotels and motels, which have been used as temporary housing as part of the mayor’s Inside Safe initiative.
The declaration also allowed Bass to issue Executive Order 1, which dramatically accelerated the city’s approval of housing projects deemed 100% affordable. Last month, Bass said more than 16,000 affordable housing units have entered the city’s pipeline since the start of the ED1 program.
City Fix has sued the city government several times, seeking to limit certain types of development. The group sued last year to stop Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky’s plan to open an interim homeless facility on Pico Boulevard in LA’s Westside, saying it violated state environmental laws.
In the latest lawsuit, City Repair tried unsuccessfully to cancel not only the mayor’s emergency declaration but also ED 1. The initiative allowed 100% of affordable housing projects to pass the review of the city’s Planning Commission, speeding up the approval process by several months.
