Recent case law has explored and defined the rights of homeless people who reside in public spaces. The first part of this presentation will discuss how the City of Los Angeles, home to the nation's largest homeless population, has used innovative regulations to comply with recent case law ,defining the rights of homeless persons to dwell and store personal property in the public spaces, while maintaining clean and accessible streets, sidewalks and open space. Los Angeles regulates dwelling in public spaces, dwelling in vehicles on public streets, and storage of personal property on public property. The City's recent amendments to its municipal code decriminalize the fundamental attributes of homelessness, provides alternatives to criminal prosecution for certain violations and opens up certain street segments to homeless vehicle dwellers. The second part of this presentation will discuss one municipality’s experience with a Fair Housing Complaint that arose from a zoning dispute involving a homeless shelter. The presenter will describe the process of proceeding through a mediation and conciliation with the Department of Justice and the efforts to find a suitably zoned location. The City was able to locate the homeless shelter through the sale of a government building. This resolution was agreed to by all parties and the Fair Housing complaint was dismissed.
