On February 12, 2026, six unhoused plaintiffs, and “Ktown for All” scored a stunning win in federal court against the City of Los Angeles in the case, Garcia v. City of Los Angeles. The court entered judgment against the City because it had falsified hundreds, if not thousands, of records in order to conceal and justify its practice of trashing the belongings of unhoused people living in encampments across the City pursuant to LA Ordinance 57.11, which mandated disposal of “Bulky Items.”
Witnesses in the courtroom report a dramatic moment before the judge entered her ruling. Judge Fischer reportedly stood up behind the high bench of the Federal District Court in Los Angeles on February 12, tore off her long black robe, and said, “I’m ready to go. Show me where you store the property you took from homeless people in your encampment clean- ups.”
Shortly afterward, Judge Fischer ruled that the City’s case had to be dismissed without trial, and entered judgment for plaintiffs. The City’s attempt to deceive the court was massive and calculated; not only were records “either modified or falsified” but entire narratives were created to justify disposal, such as reclassification of items as “biohazards.”
Property Destruction is Big Business
It’s an undercount, but the official figure is that 17,000 residents lived outside or in vehicles in LA in 2019. (L.A. Homeless Servs. Auth., 2019 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count—Data Summary: City of Los Angeles 1 (2020)). According to evidence in the Garcia case, the City spent $31 million on “encampment clean-ups” that year. It also spent almost $5 million for police oversight of these operations. In recent years, even greater public resources have been devoted to the destruction of property, reaching over $50 million in 2024.
The destruction and trashing of the belongings of unhoused people involves vast expenditure across the state. Since 2021-22, California legislature has provided a billion dollars to “clean up” encampments, even though unhoused people – those who must live outside or in vehicles because of unattainable housing costs and over-full shelters – have no access to storage facilities or garbage disposal.
Garcia followed decades of litigation in other courts outlawing the practice of throwing away the belongings of unhoused people. The City could not legally defend its destruction of property. The U.S. Constitution clearly protects property from being taken and destroyed by the government – even if you are houseless and living outside – as the courts ruled for decades before this case.
Why Is Garcia Important?
The deception of the court in this case is most clearly understood as a practice that carries out City’s deception of the city itself in its brutal war on unhoused residents, the Big Lie that the City seeks to “help” people who are living outside. Big real estate – the interests which are struggling to maintain their dominance as the voters of the city call for new initiatives to build affordable housing and services – have long dictated the billionaire-developer politics of LA.
Indeed, it is well documented that CARE+ is designed and implemented to wreck encampments and push people out of the places where they live – routinely spurring forced moves every couple of days.
Kristy Lovich, an LA artist and community organizer, witnessed the destruction when she started to work for LAHSA (LA Homeless Services Agency) as an outreach supervisor.
“Perhaps I was naïve. I thought I would have services to offer,” she reflected recently in an interview. “They talked about ‘building relationships’ so folks feel some connection and follow up. But it was extremely difficult because we didn’t have shelter or housing to offer. I saw the harm happening with CARE+, and tried to deescalate the sweeps so people didn’t lose their stuff.”
After making complaints about the harm CARE+ was causing, Kristy Lovich was fired from LAHSA and took up activism with LA Community Action Network (LA CAN), where she’s gotten involved in organizing around homelessness and the right to housing.
The Take-Away
Ktown for All, a volunteer-led grassroots organization serving Koreatown’s homeless community members through direct aid and political advocacy, signed on as a Plaintiff in the Garcia case. Ktown for All is a sign of the times – a sign of the developing coordination of organizations and coalitions that are rising to protect vulnerable city residents from attack, whether they are unhoused, whether they are rent-burdened tenants on the edge of eviction, or whether they are immigrants being hunted and seized by ICE. This unity is protecting people in their neighborhoods.
Ktown for All is allied with organizations and coalitions such as Keep LA Housed, a a coalition of tenants who are organizing for a tenants’ Bill of Rights, and the Community Self Defense Coalition, a coalition of 50 organizations who joined to provide support and advocacy to ensure the safety and rights of all immigrants, regardless of their status.
Yusra Murad, communications organizer for Minneapolis-based Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia (also known as United Renters for Justice) sums up lessons we are learning.
“How we keep everyone housed is about power—who has it and who doesn’t—and what it would take to shift the power imbalances that threaten every single one of us,” says Murad. “Whether [it] comes through eviction, deportation, gentrification, or a climate crisis, our purpose is to protect people from displacement.”
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