Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto
The Los Angeles City Council last week agreed to quintuple its payments to an outside law firm that’s helping the city to fulfill a legal settlement aimed at resolving the region’s homeless crisis.
The City Council voted 10-3 on Sept. 17 to authorize the City Attorney’s Office to augment its contract with the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP – from an initial allocation of $900,000 to more than $4.97 million. The new contract, which covers the 2025-2026 fiscal year, was approved to help resolve the city’s legal obligations in the settlement of a federal civil lawsuit, LA Alliance for Human Rights v. City of Los Angeles.
A $1 million transfer from the office’s internal salary fund will go toward the new contract.
The city resolution on the budget allocation indicates the City Attorney’s Office will need to report to the city’s Budget and Finance Committee if it anticipates additional funding will be required.
Several council members expressed concern about the increase in legal payouts to a firm whose attorneys have hourly billing rates as high as $1,300 per hour. But City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto’s spokesman said hiring the law firm has benefited the city.
“We are pleased that the City Council recognizes and appreciates the strong legal representation that Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has provided and continues to provide to the city,” spokesman Igor Pine told the Southern California Record in an email. “The Alliance matter is still ongoing and the best interests of the city are served by continuing to work with Gibson, a firm that has exceeded expectations and delivered exceptional results for the city.”
In May, the council instructed the City Attorney’s Office to regularly consult with council members prior to taking action on the outside council contract.
The LA Alliance for Human Rights’ website reports the city has made progress in meeting settlement goals to provide more housing and treatment avenues for homeless people in the city. So far, the city has added 4,815 beds to address homelessness out of a total commitment of 12,915 beds, the plaintiff reported. In addition, the number of homeless encampments has been reduced by 4,705 and 1,353 treatment beds have been added, but these numbers still fall short of the settlement commitments.
The LA Alliance’s 2022 legal complaint in the homelessness litigation, which was filed in the Central District of California, indicated that the city had stepped up to provide shelter and housing to homeless individuals, but the group faulted Los Angeles County for failing to provide more drug addiction and mental illness treatment to those without shelter.
More than 41,000 homeless people were living in the city in 2020, according to the lawsuit, and countywide, the number of homeless was more than 66,000.
“The multiplication of makeshift structures, garbage, human waste and other detritus has created circumstances throughout the city and county that are crippling for local businesses, unlivable for residents and deadly for those on the streets,” the LA Alliance’s complaint states. “... The population of people experiencing homelessness has nearly doubled since 2012 while sustainable short- and long-term solutions have been in short supply.”
Despite billions of local and federal tax funds being allocated in support of addressing homeless in the L.A. region, the problem has grown to tragic proportions and extended well beyond Skid Row in downtown L.A., according to the lawsuit.
“Shelter remains unattainable for most, services are inaccessible for most and streets are unbearable for all,” the plaintiff concluded.
