Federal judge says racism led him to order L.A. to house homeless people on Skid Row

In this Feb. 4, 2021, file photo, Jeff Page, a homelessness activist, walks with U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter, middle, and Michele Martinez, special master on the issues of homelessness, after a court hearing at Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

Posted: May 27, 2021 / 05:56 PM PDT

Updated: May 27, 2021 / 05:56 PM PDT

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

At a hearing Thursday devoted to structural racism in a federal lawsuit about homelessness in Los Angeles, the defendants offered no evidence to suggest it doesn’t exist.

Neither did the plaintiffs.

Judge David O. Carter said a long, winding road of racism led him to the belief that he had to act and order the city and county of Los Angeles to offer shelter to everyone on skid row by October.

As the defendants, the city and county struck back by appealing the case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal — and won a temporary pause of the deadlines in Carter’s order.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.