News Story (California)
Theresa Walker
Orange County Register
February 23, 2017
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: Housing: Homelessness
Organizations mentioned/involved: Community Legal Aid SoCal (CLA SoCal), Public Counsel (Los Angeles), National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP)
DETAILS
In December, Gamble’s fortunes took a turn when he settled a lawsuit against the city of Fullerton that Legal Aid Society of Orange County initially filed on behalf of another homeless man. Gamble, who joined the lawsuit in 2015 with friend James Mayfield, was awarded $20,000 – enough to rent a studio apartment into next year.
But more importantly, he says, the deal with the city included provisions aimed at helping other homeless people, including a $1 million commitment toward housing for people with extremely low incomes, installation of portable toilets at the transit center and zoning rules that could enable homeless shelters to be built in more locations around the city.
“It’s good to see the city officials cooperate with us now that we have lawyers,” said the 56-year-old Gamble, who had been homeless since losing his work seven years ago. “Before, they would not take us seriously.”