State Ordered to Provide Aid to Homeless Families

In a ruling that will affect homeless families throughout California, a Los Angeles judge Monday ordered the state to provide emergency services to homeless children who live with their parents.

The preliminary injunction by Superior Court Judge Norman A. Dowds means that welfare agencies will be required to offer shelter to homeless families previously denied aid unless the parents are willing to place their children in foster homes.

“The order puts an end to a policy by the state where it ignored the desperate needs of the homeless or contributed to the breakup of these families,” said attorney Robert Newman of the Western Center on Law and Poverty in Los Angeles, who argued the case in court.

Dowds’ ruling came on a class-action lawsuit filed last month by a statewide coalition of poverty law firms against the state Department of Social Services. The department sets guidelines and is the conduit of funds for local welfare agencies.

The suit argued that homeless children should be given aid under the same section of the state Welfare and Institutions Code that guarantees emergency assistance to children considered to be abused, neglected or endangered.

Attorney Melinda Bird, also with the Western Center on Law and Poverty, said after the ruling:

“How can we draw a distinction? How can you say, ‘This child is abused so it deserves care and this one doesn’t because it’s only sleeping in a car?’ ”

Deputy Atty. Gen. Ralph Johnson said state officials will study the ruling to decide whether to appeal.

In court, he argued that the law was not designed to aid homeless children.

“This statute isn’t the solution to this problem,” he said.

He said a bill that would provide emergency aid for homeless children--SB 466 authored by state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles)--has been approved by the Senate and is being considered by the Assembly.

He added that funds earmarked for abused children might become scarce if the state is forced to pay for the shelter of homeless children and their families.

Although conceding that such funds could be in short supply, the judge disagreed with Johnson’s arguments.

State Welfare Code

He noted that Section 16501 of the Welfare and Institutions Code charged state officials with aiding in the welfare of “all children” who are eligible for emergency help and shelter.

The ruling could affect an estimated 9,000 homeless families in Los Angeles County, according to county welfare officials.

There are an estimated 500,000 homeless people in California, but Newman and other public-interest lawyers said it is difficult to estimate the number of homeless families in that group.

State Department of Social Services officials said they had not seen the ruling and did not know how it could be implemented, but Newman and others said several options could be considered.

Among them is a voucher program that would allow families to stay in inexpensive hotels and motels. Another alternative, Newman said, would be contracts with private, nonprofit agencies to house the homeless.

Emergency Shelters

In the past, homeless parents, desperate to obtain adequate care for their children, have reluctantly agreed to place them in emergency shelters such as Los Angeles County’s MacLaren’s Children’s Center in El Monte, where it costs as much as $140 a night to house a child, according to public interest attorneys.

The state could house a homeless family for much less in a motel, they have contended.

A spokeswoman for Linda McMahon, director of the state Department of Social Services, said in declining comment that it is too early to tell how much it would cost to implement the ruling.

As an example of their expenditures on abused, neglected or endangered children, state authorities said they spent about $231,000 statewide on more than 600 such cases in January.

Other Groups Involved

In addition to the Western Center on Law and Poverty in Los Angeles, the other public-interest groups that participated in the suit were the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles; the San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services; the Legal Aid Society of San Diego; the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County; Legal Services of Northern California in Sacramento; the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation; Channel Counties Legal Services in Santa Barbara; the Contra Costa Legal Services Foundation in Richmond, and the Inner City Law Center in Los Angeles.