Ruling Raises Doubts About Homeless Law : Courts: Invalidation of a Santa Ana ordinance could affect Santa Monica’s prohibition of encampments. The state Supreme Court ultimately will decide the issue.

When an appellate court recently threw out a Santa Ana law that outlawed homeless encampments, the justices said what advocates for the homeless in Santa Monica have contended all along.

“It is simply not a crime to be unemployed, without funds and in a public place,” the opinion said. “To punish the unfortunate for this circumstance debases society.”

Those words came originally from a 1967 opinion written by the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. They were quoted verbatim by Associate Justice Thomas F. Crosby Jr. of the California Court of Appeal in striking down the Santa Ana law Feb. 2.

The decision in the Santa Ana case has been long awaited by those on both sides of the homeless issue, in Santa Monica and other cities.

Those pushing for regulation of the homeless population in public places were hoping to get the court’s OK to move forward. Legal advocates for the homeless were looking for a ruling that would thwart efforts to outlaw living in parks and other public places.

With its strong language, the Court of Appeal’s decision in the Santa Ana case is fodder for homeless advocates such as ousted Santa Monica City Atty. Robert M. Myers. He argued strenuously that laws restricting homeless people criminalize poverty and are meant to drive the homeless from a community.

Santa Monica’s law prohibiting encampments, which was written after Myers was fired, has also been challenged by public interest lawyers. It has not been enforced pending the outcome of the Santa Ana case.

Now the future of the Santa Monica law is even more uncertain. “I wouldn’t be in favor of trying to enforce that law with this decision out there,” said Santa Monica City Councilwoman Asha Greenberg.

Greenberg pointed out, however, that the climate in Santa Monica is vastly different from that in Santa Ana. In the Santa Ana case, the court had an official memo entitled “Vagrants.” It spelled out a City Council policy “that the vagrants are no longer welcome in the city.”

Santa Monica, by contrast, has a strong track record of serving its homeless population, she said.

Christi Hogin, an attorney who wrote the Santa Monica encampment law, agreed. She said the Santa Monica law is modeled on a West Hollywood ordinance, also written by Hogin’s firm, Richards, Watson & Gershon, that has been declared legal by a three-member appellate panel of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.