ASHLAND, Ore. (AP) — Worries about a potential lawsuit have led the Ashland City Council to review the practice of ticketing homeless campers without providing shelter.
The Ashland Daily Tidings reports the council directed its staff to research the issue after an American Civil Liberties Union representative talked about the legal issues involved at a Tuesday council meeting.
Ashland has no permanent homeless shelter, and the ACLU won a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles for failing to provide adequate shelter for the homeless while enforcing a similar policy.
When the Ashland City Council was considering the ban on homeless camping in 2008, the former city attorney said Los Angeles got into trouble because of insufficient shelter in the metropolitan area.
