story and photo by Cathleen Williams
On February 12, six unhoused plaintiffs and Ktown for All, a community organization, scored a stunning win in federal court against the City of Los Angeles. In Garcia v. City of Los Angeles, the court entered judgment against the City because it had falsified hundreds, if not thousands, of records in order to conceal and justify its practice of trashing the belongings of unhoused people living in encampments across the City pursuant to LA Ordinance 57.11, which mandated disposal of “bulky items.”
Witnesses in the courtroom report a dramatic moment before the judge entered her ruling. Judge Dale S. Fischer reportedly stood up behind the high bench of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, tore off her long black robe, and said, “I’m ready to go. Show me where you store the property you took from homeless people in your encampment clean-ups.”
Shortly afterward, Fischer ordered that the City’s case be dismissed without trial, and entered default judgment for plaintiffs. The City’s attempt to deceive the court was massive and calculated; not only were records “either modified or fabricated” but entire narratives were created to justify disposal, such as reclassification of items as “biohazards.”
Property Destruction is Big Business
Although it is an undercount, officially 17,000 residents lived outside or in vehicles in LA in 2019. The City spent $31 million on “encampment clean-ups” that year. It also spent almost $5 million for police oversight of these operations. In recent years, even greater public resources have been devoted to the destruction of property, reaching over $50 million in 2024.
The destruction and trashing of the belongings of unhoused people involves vast expenditure across the state. Since 2021-22, the California legislature has provided $1 billion to “clean up” encampments, even though unhoused people—those who must live outside or in vehicles because of unattainable housing costs and over-full shelters—have no access to storage facilities or garbage disposal.
Garcia followed decades of litigation in other courts outlawing the practice of throwing away the belongings of unhoused people. The City could not legally defend its destruction of property. In previous cases, such as Lavan v. City of Los Angeles in 2012, courts have ruled that the U.S. Constitution clearly protects property from being taken and destroyed by the government—even if you are houseless and living outside.
Why Is Garcia Important?
The deception of the court in this case reflects City’s deception of the people of L.A. in its brutal war on unhoused residents, the Big Lie that the City seeks to “help” people who are living outside. Billionaire developers run L.A., although voters are now challenging their rule by electing new City Council members and supporting initiatives for affordable housing.
It is well documented that CARE+ is designed and implemented to wreck encampments and push people out of the places where they live—routinely spurring forced moves every couple of days.
Kristy Lovich, an L.A. cultural worker and community organizer, witnessed the destruction when she started to work for the L.A. Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) as an outreach supervisor. “Perhaps I was naïve. I thought I would have services to offer,” she said reflectively in an interview. “They talked about ‘building relationships’ so folks feel some connection and follow up. But it was extremely difficult because we didn’t have shelter or housing to offer. I saw the harm happening with CARE+, and tried to deescalate the sweeps so people didn’t lose their stuff.”
Kristy Lovich organized against the CARE+ program’s partnership with the police, exposing the “horrifying outcomes” of encampment sweeps through a petition drive. She was then fired from LAHSA, and today continues to build with the unhoused community as a researcher and organizer.
The Take-Away
Ktown for All, a volunteer-led grassroots organization serving Koreatown’s homeless community members through direct aid and political advocacy, signed on as a plaintiff in the Garcia case. Ktown for All is allied with organizations and coalitions such as Keep LA Housed, a coalition of tenants who are organizing for a tenants’ Bill of Rights, and the Community Self Defense Coalition (CSDC), an alliance of 50 organizations who joined to provide support and advocacy to ensure the safety and rights of all immigrants, regardless of their status.
Yusra Murad, communications organizer for Minneapolis-based Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia (also known as United Renters for Justice) sums up lessons we are learning in a recent report on the first year of CSDC activity.
“How we keep everyone housed is about power—who has it and who doesn’t—and what it would take to shift the power imbalances that threaten every single one of us,” Murad said. “Whether [it] comes through eviction, deportation, gentrification or a climate crisis, our purpose is to protect people from displacement.”
Ktown for All and its broad alliances are signs of the times, signs of the developing coordination of organizations and coalitions that are rising to protect vulnerable city residents from attack, whether they are unhoused, rent-burdened tenants on the edge of eviction, or immigrants being hunted and seized by ICE. The goal is to protect all vulnerable people in their neighborhoods.
