The state is suing a Southern California city that blocked new homeless shelters

The state of California filed a lawsuit against Norwalk on Monday, alleging that the southeast Los Angeles County city's freeze on homeless shelters and supportive housing violates a dozen housing laws.

“No community should turn its back on its citizens in need,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement announcing the case.

In August, the Norwalk City Council passed an ordinance banning these establishments along with new laundromats, liquor stores and payday lenders until at least next summer. Council members said the city of 100,000 was a dumping ground for homeless people that was straining the budget and leading to chaos. Norwalk's ban has led to the cancellation of an effort to lease hotels that county officials believe would have housed 80 people.

Calling the Norwalk ordinance “beyond cruel,” Newsom has threatened litigation for months and has already withdrawn state approval of Norwalk's development plan, making it ineligible for certain affordable housing dollars.

Monday's lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court contends Norwalk's ordinance violates discrimination, fair housing and other laws.

He said. Gen. Rob Bonta said Norwalk's actions “violated the law with contempt,” and singled out the city's homeless shelters and other businesses as a major problem.

“It's revealing and very offensive to compare accommodation, accommodation, compassion and the ability to get someone off the street from what they consider to be a nuisance in society,” said Bonta.

Norwalk, a city with a large Latino population with a household income of less than $100,000, is out of Beverly Hills, Coronado, La Cañada Flintridge and other wealthy, white areas that have challenged the state on housing issues.

City leaders have said Norwalk is doing more than its fair share of homelessness, citing a social services department that helps homeless residents and support for restoring abandoned buildings to a community mental health center to house the homeless. It is expected that the construction of more supportive housing will open in the coming months which will be started under the ban.

The city has protested housing projects during the pandemic that residents and business owners say have been mismanaged and led to an increase in Norwalk's homeless population. A 2021 decision in LA County Superior Court allowed one such project to move forward but deemed it a “public nuisance.”

“Why is Norwalk always at the center of these programs?” Councilman Rick Ramirez told The Times about the latest news. “Where is the help from other nearby cities? We have decided to be independent.”

Bonta said the city has many ways to address its complaints with county and state officials without the shelter being banned. Bonta said the state is willing to continue working with Norwalk to get its law overturned out of court, but will enforce the law.

“They wanted us to sue them and we are,” said Bonta. “We hope to find a solution soon. They can control how fast that goes.”