Who We Are
The LA Alliance for Human Rights is a broad coalition of stakeholders who understand that our homeless crisis requires urgent and dramatic action. It began in the summer of 2019 as an informal, grassroots effort to come up with creative ways to change the trajectory of the homelessness crisis on skid row. The members of the group had experienced first-hand the devastating impact that a series of political and legal decisions has had on the community, housed and unhoused alike. An idea was born to use the same mechanism—the courts—to break through the barriers and compel City and County-led efforts to address the crisis. Thereafter the group commenced an organizing and fundraising campaign for legal fees and research into the issue. The group hired former Deputy City Attorney Elizabeth Mitchell and her firm of Spertus, Landes, & Umhofer to proceed with litigation. The Alliance spent several months talking with the City and County to explain our approach and explore interest in partnership before filing its lawsuit on March 10th. In addition to the original members—some of whom became the plaintiffs in the suit—the Alliance now includes non-profits, service providers, small business owners, residents, and community leaders who despair over the suffering on our streets and are fed up with excuses about the status quo.
RESIDENT QUOTES
It is necessary to file an action because the executive and legislative branches of the County and City have failed to adequately respond to the present emergency. It is unconscionable that our local government does not properly shelter those living in encampments. Last year, nearly a 1000 homeless died in the street. They should have had a right to shelter and government the obligation to provide it.
– Joseph Charney
I am glad there is an Organization that is trying to stop Homelessness! Homelessness is a Major Concern on our Neighborhood. It is time to create a solution to this long time problem. You have my full support to your campaign.
– Diony Rebuta
Homelessness is a Major Problem in Los Angeles. I am very happy that there is an organization trying to solve it. Keep it up!
– Ericson Alviz
So thankful to finally see an organization like this caring for the future of these poor, unfortunate lives suffering on the streets of Los Angeles. Keep up the good work! The homeless issue is getting out of hand. Driving around town and seeing tents on every corner is depressing and wrong!
– Sara H
QUOTES
Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis cannot be managed or mitigated, it must come to an end. Letting three people die everyday on our sidewalks is not compassion – it’s cruel. This lawsuit, and the collaborative process that it has unleashed, is the best opportunity we have had in years to solve our homeless crisis.
– Don Steier, Chair, LA Alliance for Human Rights
"[O]ur holding does not cover individuals who do have access to adequate temporary shelter, whether because they have the means to pay for it or because it is realistically available to them for free, but who choose not to use it."
– Martin v City of Boise, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal
[Mayor] Garcetti has only sporadically showed up - and only a result of the federal lawsuit that has forced him to...
– “General Jeff” Page, Community Organizer
[T]he plaintiffs, quite frankly, have been in our office, and we've talked to them, and we wanted to work toward addressing this issue. So I don't view this as us against them because we're all in this together. And working with all of our 87 other cities along with L.A. city is what L.A. County is committed to do.
I don't view the people that got us here today in an adversarial way. In fact, I admire their courage for stepping forward.
– Kathryn Barger, Chair, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
"So with the City Council, the Mayor and with the Board of Supervisors essentially saying we can get this done that ought to send a message of consequence far and wide of our resolve."
– Mark Ridley Thomas, Supervisor, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
"[W]e all understand that this is a first step in a long road to try to resolve this issue with the partnership of the county and the city."
– Nury Martinez, President, Los Angeles City Council
