LOS ANGELES, July 19 (Xinhua) -- A class action lawsuit of 10 homeless people has been filed in federal court against the City of San Diego, Southern California, from citing homeless people for placing their tents and belongings on public sidewalks.
The ordinance was enacted in 2007, which originally intended to address the business owners for dumping the trash cans and planters in the public right of way.
But now the law is used to target the homeless people and thousands of tickets have been issued, failure to pay the fine or show up to court has resulted in many arrests, Kath Roger, the attorney of plaintiffs was quoted as saying by San Diego Union-tribune on Tuesday.
The homeless people allege that they are unfairly targeted. Eric Arundel, who has been living in the street for almost two years, said as they cannot afford to pay the tickets, they would have a lot of criminal records, and no landlord would possibly accept them. In this situation, it is impossible to get homeless people like Eric out of the street.
Nevertheless, some other people believe that the public places should not be possessed by homelessness, and they make the community unsafe, CBS8.com reported.
"It's unconstitutional and counterproductive. If people are living on the streets, where do you expect them to put their belongings", said Kath Roger.
She also pointed out the city now is making a crime, since anybody cannot avoid of being targeted by this law.
On behalf of 10 homelessness, Roger said the lawsuit claims the constitutional rights of the 10 people, and if it is successful, the city will stop issuing the citations to the people living on the streets for placing the belongings on public property.
The office of city attorney gave the response that the case is under the review and they will consult with all clients who are named in the suit and City Council members.
Statistics show that number of citations and arrests grew from 200 in 2009 to 1,400 in 2013, and to 2,200 last year, according to the report of San Diego Union-tribune.
