Court overturns ban on Los Angelenos living in cars

Is it Christian to make war on the homeless? This law was criticized for being "overly broad", but making it illegal for people to live in their own cars is simply wrong.

I have slept in my car to keep from falling asleep while driving. And one time when I was out of work, I was two weeks from living in my car.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/court-overturns-ban-on-los-angelenos-living-in-cars/

June 20, 2014

A federal appeals court on Thursday struck down a 31-year-old Los Angeles law that bars people from living in parked vehicles, saying the vaguely written statute discriminates against the homeless and poor.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals involved a 1983 law that prohibits the use of a vehicle "as living quarters either overnight, day-by-day, or otherwise."

The court said the law was unconstitutional because its ambiguous wording does not make clear what conduct would constitute a violation and "criminalizes innocent behavior."

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Carol Sobel, the lawyer for the three men and one woman who sued to overturn the law in 2011, said Los Angeles' ban on living in cars was exceptionally broad. One of her clients was cited while waiting outside a church that served meals and another while driving her RV through Venice on her way to sell her work at a local art fair.

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"People living in their vehicles is one of the great unidentified homeless groups in this country - formerly middle-class people who lost everything during the recession and are trying to maintain the appearance of stability so they can go to work," she said.

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