Investigating violence in homeless shelters under the California Public Records Act 

California has rapidly expanded its shelter system, using it as the backbone of its response to the homelessness crisis. A 2018 bill sought to address the growing homelessness crisis by making it easier to build shelters and ensuring that more people had access to emergency shelter spaces. Since that date, California has invested at least $1.5 billion in shelters and related initiatives, according to CalMatters, however “What happens in those shelters is largely a black box. No state agency keeps an updated list of how many shelters are operating, or where (…).”   

CalMatters contacted ProJourn as it was investigating conditions inside homeless shelters in Los Angeles, including deaths, assaults, domestic violence and medical emergencies.  Reporters had requested incident reports for the shelters, but the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) blankly denied the news organization’s requests, arguing that the reports fell under “attorney-client privilege” and were therefore exempt from the public records law.

ProJourn connected CalMatters with attorneys from Covington & Burling who sued LAHSA under the California Public Records Act (CPRA). As explained in this CalMatters article: “The new CalMatters lawsuit comes amid a bigger reckoning over homelessness in the nation’s most populous state. California has spent more than $24 billion to address the issue over the past five years, a state audit found, only to fail to track most of the results. ”

“We are happy that we were able to resolve the matter so CalMatters can obtain the records that are important to its reporting on matters of crucial public interest in California”

Rani Gupta | Attorney at Covington & Burling

In December 2024, LAHSA agreed to a settlement with CalMatters in Superior Court “committing to release at least 175 incident reports every other week until the public records request is fulfilled. The agency estimates there are 5,000 such reports”. According to CalMatters: “The new shelter records that LAHSA is providing to CalMatters detail incidents inside closed-door facilities, giving the public a rare glimpse into taxpayer-funded shelters that serve as the state’s first line of defense against street homelessness. They will not include personally identifiable information about shelter residents.”

«So often agencies stonewall reporters’ requests and just hope they go away. If you’re going to get the records you need for your stories, the agencies have to know you won’t go away. And, most of the time that means they have to know you have good lawyers. Good lawyers who will sue if necessary.»

Andy Donohue | Investigative Editor

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