CALIFORNIA—A federal judge issued a preliminary order on Friday, May 15, which requires thousands of homeless people living under Los Angeles freeway overpasses, underpasses, near exit and entrance ramps to be relocated for health and safety reasons.

U.S. District Court Judge David Carter issued the injunction requiring the relocation of an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 people camping near overpasses and bridges.

Carter invited feedback from city and county officials in the week before the preliminary injunction takes place next Friday.

The judge wrote that when the homeless are exposed to such dangers as toxic fumes, hazardous waste concentrations of lead, car crashes, and the potential collapse of an overpass in an earthquake, their health is threatened in a way that monetary damages cannot adequately compensate.

Consequently, if the parties reach a decision for an alternative plan before May 22, they have to submit their plan to the court by 3 p.m. Tuesday and a hearing will take will place the next day, Carter said.

Carter said that alternatives to ‘shelters’ could also be ‘safe parking sites’ to camp, or hotel or motel rooms that the country is paying for through Project Roomkey, a state program established to help thousands of homeless off the streets to avoid contracting Covid-19.

The injunction was issued in a lawsuit filed by the LA Alliance for Human Rights, which accused officials in Los Angeles of failing to address the homelessness crisis.