A homeless Jacob Serrano sits in his tent along the Santa Ana riverbed in Anaheim on Wednesday, February 7, 2018. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter granted a temporary restraining order on Tuesday evening, February 6, 2018, in a lawsuit from seven homeless people against the county, Anaheim, Orange and Costa Mesa, suspending an effort that began two weeks ago to clear the tent city where an estimated 500 to 1,000 people live. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A sign on a homeless encampment in Anaheim on Wednesday, February 7, 2018, along the Santa Ana riverbed in Anaheim. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter granted a temporary restraining order on Tuesday evening, February 6, 2018, in a lawsuit from seven homeless people against the county, Anaheim, Orange and Costa Mesa, suspending an effort that began two weeks ago to clear the tent city where an estimated 500 to 1,000 people live. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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A homeless Charlotte Kramer holds a copy of the temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in front of her tent along the Santa Ana riverbed in Anaheim on Wednesday, February 7, 2018. Carter issued his order Tuesday evening, February 6, 2018, after he learned that Orange County sheriffÕs deputies planned to begin citing and arresting the encampmentÕs inhabitants on trespassing charges Wednesday if they didnÕt permanently leave the area the same day. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A homeless Jacob Serrano stands outside his tent along the Santa Ana riverbed in Anaheim on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 as he talks about the news that U.S. District Judge David O. Carter granted a temporary restraining order on Tuesday evening, February 6, 2018, in a lawsuit from seven homeless people against the county, Anaheim, Orange and Costa Mesa, suspending an effort that began two weeks ago to clear the tent city where an estimated 500 to 1,000 people live. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A street sweeper makes its way along the bike trail adjacent to the Santa Ana River and through the homeless encampment in Anaheim, Wednesday morning, February 7, 2018. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter granted a temporary restraining order on Tuesday evening, February 6, 2018, in a lawsuit from seven homeless people against the county, Anaheim, Orange and Costa Mesa, suspending an effort that began two weeks ago to clear the tent city where an estimated 500 to 1,000 people live. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)



A view looking north along the bike trail just south of Angel Stadium of Anaheim and adjacent to the Santa Ana River through the homeless encampment in Anaheim, Wednesday morning, February 7, 2018. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter granted a temporary restraining order on Tuesday evening, February 6, 2018, in a lawsuit from seven homeless people against the county, Anaheim, Orange and Costa Mesa, suspending an effort that began two weeks ago to clear the tent city where an estimated 500 to 1,000 people live. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Hundreds of homeless people living along the Santa Ana River will be able to stay there for at least a little longer after a federal judge ordered a halt to their looming evictions from the encampment.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter granted a temporary restraining order (PDF) Tuesday, Feb. 6, in a lawsuit filed on behalf of seven homeless people against the county, Anaheim, Orange and Costa Mesa. The order suspends an effort that began two weeks ago to clear the three-mile-long tent city, where an estimated 500 to 1,000 people live.

Carter issued his order after he learned that sheriff’s deputies planned on Wednesday to begin citing and arresting people living at the encampment on trespassing charges if they didn’t permanently leave the area the same day.

The judge said he viewed the enforcement plan as being at odds with concerns he voiced earlier this week that the evictions, coupled with local anti-camping laws, could effectively criminalize homelessness.

“The court will not allow haphazard, hurried enforcement action in an effort to clear the population, in contravention of the fundamental issues that the court raised,” Carter wrote.

“The court enjoins defendants from enforcement of any infraction or misdemeanor anti-loitering, trespassing, or camping ordinances or statutes at the riverbed, in light of these laws not having been enforced for the last year,” the judge wrote.

Carter’s order will hold until at least Feb. 13, when he’s set to hear evidence from the county, cities and others about whether local anti-camping laws have been enforced against people displaced from the riverbed “even though those persons may not be able to find a shelter or other place to sleep.”

At that hearing, Carter could issue a preliminary injunction, which could stave off any further evictions from the riverbed until the lawsuit is fully resolved (PDF of lawsuit).

On Wednesday evening, county lawyers asked Carter to modify his order. They said the one the judge initially issued could negate the county’s progress in clearing riverbed encampments by allowing former inhabitants to return – including to camps in other parts of the river that had been shuttered over the past year in places such as Fountain Valley.

The restraining order doesn’t prohibit deputies from continuing to police the area and arrest people for committing crimes or for violating probation or parole. Undersheriff Don Barnes said deputies will continue to patrol the riverbed to “address criminal activity.”

The county began the process of clearing the encampment on Jan. 22, saying the area wasn’t safe for human habitation and needed to be cleaned and returned to its intended use as a bike path and flood control channel.

County officials said they’d employ a “slow and methodical” approach to the effort. During the first two weeks, deputies mostly walked through the encampment, asking people to voluntarily relocate to local shelters and elsewhere. During the second week, the sheriff’s department began making arrests in the area for active warrants, probation and parole violations, domestic violence, and drug and weapon offenses – but not for trespassing.

Yet two weeks in, only 30 percent of the encampment’s tents had been taken down, according to sheriff’s officials.

In a Tuesday email that alerted lawyers for the homeless of plans to begin making trespassing arrests, county lawyers wrote that many of the encampment’s inhabitants had made few efforts to pack their belongings. Instead, many people remaining in the riverbed had simply shuffled their possessions from one side of their campsite to the other, the county lawyers said.

“Consequently, beginning (Wednesday) morning, (sheriff’s) personnel will begin advising people remaining on the District Santa Ana Riverbed property that they must vacate or may be cited and/or arrested for trespassing,” county attorney Marianne Van Riper wrote.

Attorneys for the homeless relayed that information to Carter, who granted the temporary restraining order in response.

On Wednesday morning, word of the restraining order spread quickly through the encampment, which appeared more tranquil than in recent weeks. No one seemed to be packing to leave. Absent were large groups of deputies whose marches through the encampment had become a daily routine.

Charlotte Kramer, 52, stood outside her tent next to two shopping carts filled with her belongings. She said she had been warned that deputies had planned to begin arresting inhabitants for trespassing and had packed accordingly, ready to push off into Anaheim if forced.

Instead, she waved around a copy of Carter’s order, prepared to show it to any law enforcement officers she might encounter in the encampment. Kramer said she felt a great sense of relief knowing she’d have at least another week in the riverbed, where she said she’d lived for five years. She even had unpacked some of her possessions.

“I stayed because I think it’s worth the fight,” said Kramer, who said she became homeless after escaping an abusive relationship. “There are a lot of good people down here and they have nowhere to go. If something better comes along, I’ll take it.”

In the long term, lawyers for the encampment’s inhabitants are seeking a more permanent injunction preventing displacement of the riverbed’s homeless until the county and nearby cities provide them an alternative place to go. Homeless advocates and attorneys have pointed out that there isn’t enough affordable housing or shelter space in the county for the encampment’s homeless.

County contractors have moved 202 riverbed inhabitants into shelter since July. But in recent weeks, the county’s year-round homeless shelters had room for only a few dozen more people, while two armory shelters open only during colder months had 200 openings.

Jacob Serrano, 39, said he had applied through a county contractor to receive assistance finding an apartment but hadn’t yet been housed by the program. He said he’d continue his efforts to get out of the riverbed but wouldn’t move this week if he didn’t have to.

“I’m relieved, but I’m not going to give up just because we have an extra week,” said Serrano, who said he works part-time as a construction worker and recently got off parole for a carjacking. “Nobody wants to be down here.”

A second legal organization sued the county Wednesday in U.S. District Court over the riverbed eviction. In its complaint (PDF), filed on behalf of the advocacy group People’s Homeless Task Force and seven disabled people living at the riverbed, Legal Aid Society of Orange County alleges that the “sudden eviction” is discriminatory and that the county is unwilling to tap into about $700 million in unspent funds that could be used to end homelessness.

“Despite weeks of working with the County to seek reasonable solutions for our clients, it was clear that County services are so inadequate that they would cause further harm to individuals with disabilities,” Lili Graham, director of litigation at Legal Aid Society of Orange County, wrote in a statement issued Wednesday.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated. An earlier version incorrectly stated whether Carter had modified his order in response to county lawyers’ request for clarification. He has not. The restraining order makes no mention of whether people can move back into the riverbed encampment.

Staff writer Theresa Walker contributed to this report.

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