ANAHEIM, Calif. — The City of Anaheim has agreed not to engage in a policy that prohibited unhoused people from walking or biking to and from city-funded shelters, as part of a significant civil rights settlement secured by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California (ACLU SoCal) and Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Under the former policy, shelter residents who did not own a car were required to use designated transportation rather than come and go on their own, a restriction the ACLU SoCal argued was designed to keep unhoused people out of sight of nearby residents.
The agreement stems from Utzman v. County of Orange, a lawsuit filed in December 2020, on behalf of eight individuals and Oma’s Angel Foundation, an Anaheim-based nonprofit serving unhoused people.
The suit followed a 2019 ACLU SoCal investigative report exposing widespread sexual harassment of women in Orange County shelters, including invasive body searches, unwanted touching, lewd propositions and voyeurism by staff members. The report also documented rodent and bedbug infestations, filthy broken toilets and showers left unrepaired and extreme temperatures.
In addition to ending the shelter’s restrictive policies on movement, the settlement, approved by the Anaheim City Council on November 10, includes agreements to strengthen protections against sexual harassment and invasive searches and requires shelters to post signage for how residents can report discrimination and unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
“This agreement benefits the entire community because it will help to ensure that no one has to endure sexual harassment, invasive searches or dangerous living conditions simply because they need a place to sleep,” said Minouche Kandel, Senior Staff Attorney in the Gender, Sexuality, & Reproductive Justice Project at the ACLU of Southern California. “Our clients spent nearly six years fighting policies that stripped people of their dignity and treated them as people to be hidden from public view. This settlement is an important milestone, but we are not done. We hope Orange County can also agree to not violate the constitutional rights of our unhoused neighbors. Everyone deserves safe, stable housing, not shelters that violate their basic rights.”
“Today marks a victory not just for the plaintiffs, but for the entire homeless community in Orange County. This outcome has established necessary policy changes that protect the homeless in Orange County shelters. It’s about accountability, justice, and making sure those who are most vulnerable are never made to feel that they are less deserving of basic human rights. Being homeless does not diminish a person’s worth, erase their rights or make them any less deserving of protection under the law,” said Catherine Moore, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and longtime advocate for the rights of unhoused people.
Several plaintiffs have continued advocating for change beyond the courtroom, including working to advance statewide legislation to improve conditions in shelters. This advocacy helped secure the passage of California Health & Safety Code sections 17974.1 and 17974.5 that now require inspections and posting of rights at all shelters in the state.
“Being unhoused is hard enough without having someone tell you where you can and can’t walk. These rules made us feel like we were something to hide, like we didn’t belong in our own community. We deserve the same freedom and dignity as anyone else, and I’m glad Anaheim is finally recognizing that,” said Wendy Powitzy, a plaintiff in the case.
“I have many friends that have been seriously harmed by the inhumane lock-in policies, including my friend Robert who died in a shelter where he was not even allowed to walk outside. We feel very blessed to have gathered the resources to assure that humans will no longer be harmed by these policies in Anaheim. May those who have died in shelters Rest in Peace.,” said Heidemarie Zimmermann of Oma’s Angel Foundation, the organizational plaintiff in the case.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP, led by its partners Sharre Lotfollahi, Yungmoon Chang, Yanan Zhao and Labdhi Sheth Desai, provided extensive pro bono representation in the case and was honored by the ACLU SoCal at its 2024 Advocates for Justice reception for its work challenging unlawful and inhumane conditions in Orange County shelters. “We are proud that years of litigation have led to meaningful policy change for this community and hope that this agreement will result in sustained, improved conditions in shelters across the region,” said Labdhi Sheth Desai, Partner in Kirkland’s San Francisco office.
While the Anaheim settlement marks significant progress, litigation against Orange County and other defendants continues. The ACLU SoCal is calling on Orange County to commit to a settlement that addresses similar restrictions, as well as unsafe and degrading conditions challenged in the lawsuit. This litigation fits into ACLU SoCal’s broader work to combat the criminalization of unhoused people in California and advance policies that further the human right to housing.
Read the settlement agreement: https://www.aclusocal.org/app/uploads/2026/11/Anaheim-Settlement-Agreement-fully-executed.pdf
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