JUDGE ORDERS NORWALK TO PLACE HOUSELESS IN HOTEL

THE SADDLEBACK located on Firestone and  Bloomfield will be used by the county.

STAFF REPORT

A judge this past Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order directing the city of Norwalk to temporarily place homeless people considered vulnerable to the coronavirus in a motel.

Hews Media Group has exclusively learned that the hotel is the Hotel Saddleback located at 12500 Firestone Blvd in Norwalk.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Samantha Jessner said the interests of the county in implementing a state order under Project Roomkey to safely house the homeless during the pandemic outweighed any harm the city could suffer.

The judge’s order applies only to the one motel eyed by the county. Louis “Skip” Miller, an attorney for the county, said he had no objections to the limitation.

“That’s the motel they want to get going on,” said Skip Miller, attorney for the county.

Miller said the TRO allows the county to begin moving the homeless into the motel immediately.

Until Tuesday, Norwalk had resisted the county’s efforts to secure temporary emergency housing by enacting legislation “directly contrary to, and in violation of, (Gov. Gavin Newsom’s) declaration of an emergency and his issuance of executive orders,” according to the county’s petition filed Thursday.

Last Tuesday, the city directed a participating hotel to withdraw its contract with the county and threatened to take immediate action to revoke its permits, business licenses and other municipal entitlements, according to the petition.

At an emergency meeting of the Norwalk City Council that same day, the city enacted an ordinance asserting local control over land use and related activities during the current state of emergency, the suit said.