The order dismissed the majority of claims in the lawsuit and dismissed several individual Plaintiffs from the suit for lack of standing
SAN FRANCISCO (December 4, 2024) — City Attorney David Chiu issued the following statement today after Judge Donna Ryu issued an order dismissing a majority of the claims brought against San Francisco in Coalition on Homelessness v. City and County of San Francisco. The Court found that several individual Plaintiffs in the case lacked standing, that the Coalition on Homelessness lacked organizational standing to bring claims on its own behalf, and that the Coalition on Homelessness failed to establish associational standing for its members as to the majority of claims.
“All of the individual Plaintiffs in this matter are currently housed and have been for the most of this lawsuit,” said City Attorney David Chiu. “These folks were not harmed by the City, and the risk of future harm is extremely remote since there are no time restrictions on their housing placements. We appreciate the Court’s order today that will hopefully move us all closer to a resolution of this case.”
Several claims were dismissed as a result of the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, which found that enforcement of generally applicable laws regulating camping on public property does not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” barred by the Eighth Amendment.
Other claims were dismissed because either the Plaintiffs lacked standing or the allegations in the Complaint did not support their claims. Additionally, Judge Ryu’s order granted judgement on the pleadings in favor of the City in regard to a few claims, including rejecting Plaintiffs’ claim that City’s homelessness services amounted to a conspiracy to deprived unhoused people of their rights.
The portions of the case and the preliminary injunction order related to the Fourth Amendment remain intact. Under the preliminary injunction order, the City is required to follow its bag-and-tag policy when dealing with unhoused peoples’ possessions.
The case is Coalition on Homelessness, et al. v. City and County of San Francisco, et al., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 4:22-cv-05502. Judge Ryu’s order can be found here.
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