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Fort Lauderdale Approves Settlement With 10 Homeless More Than A Year After Raid

People living with homelessness in Fort Lauderdale's Downtown Stranahan Park are used to keeping their clothes for job interviews, blankets, personal documents and other belongings, in bags and under tarps inside the park square.
Robin Martin
/
WLRN
People living with homelessness in Fort Lauderdale's Downtown Stranahan Park are used to keeping their clothes for job interviews, blankets, personal documents and other belongings, in bags and under tarps inside the park square.

Ten people who are homeless and have been suing the City of Fort Lauderdale for the past year, have reached a settlement with the city.

InFort Lauderdale City Hall,  city commissioners voted Tuesday night in favor of settling the lawsuit for a total of $82,020 dollars. 

That money is expected to be paid out to 10 of Fort Lauderdale’s homeless, which will be divided up between each of the plaintiffs, and attorney's fees and costs.

Without comment, commissioners approved the payment. It comes over a year after the controversial clearing out of Stranahan Park with a front-end loader and trash bins. 

Read More: One Year After Tent City Raid, Homeless Lawsuit Against City Of Fort Lauderdale Continues In Court

People living in the camp accused the city of destroying personal property and violating the Fourth Amendment against unlawful seizures. 

The American Civil Liberties Union and Southern Legal Counsel are handling the case. 

Next, the city and plaintiff’s lawyers willnotify the court of the settlement.

This story has been updated.

Copyright 2018 WLRN 91.3 FM

Caitie Switalski is a rising senior at the University of Florida. She's worked for WFSU-FM in Tallahassee as an intern and reporter. When she's in Gainesville for school, Caitie is an anchor and producer for local Morning Edition content at WUFT-FM, as well as a digital editor for the station's website. Her favorite stories are politically driven, about how politicians, laws and policies effect local communities. Once she graduates with a dual degree in Journalism and English,Caitiehopes to make a career continuing to report and produce for NPR stations in the sunshine state. When she's not following what's happening with changing laws, you can catchCaitielounging in local coffee shops, at the beach, or watching Love Actually for the hundredth time.