Section 14 in Palm Springs: Settlement, Payments, and Disputes

The Section 14 Palm Springs settlement is a $5.9 million agreement the Palm Springs City Council approved in November 2024 to compensate survivors and descendants of the Black, Latino, and Native American families forcibly displaced from the downtown neighborhood between the late 1950s and 1969. The city paired the legally binding payment with roughly $21 million in separate housing and small-business programs, which the survivors’ group and the city describe differently: the survivors call the full package a $27 million reparations agreement, while the city treats the additional programs as initiatives “not legally tied to the settlement agreement.”¹² The $5.9 million was transferred to claimants’ legal representatives on October 7, 2025.³

What Section 14 Was

Section 14 is a one-square-mile tract in downtown Palm Springs that sits within the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians’ reservation.⁴ Beginning in the 1940s, individual tribal members leased parcels there to minority workers and families who were shut out of the rest of Palm Springs by racially restrictive covenants and discriminatory lending. For decades it was one of the only places Black and Latino residents could live in the city.⁵

What grew on Section 14 was a multiracial community with stores, churches, and civic life.⁶⁷

What the City Did

Because the city could not acquire tribal land outright, it used building codes, zoning ordinances, and a conservatorship program to clear residents.⁶ Beginning in 1959, court-appointed conservators managed the finances of individual Agua Caliente tribal members, terminated existing leases, and served eviction notices to tenants. Agua Caliente Tribal Chairman Reid D. Milanovich later called the system “a corrupt system that was essentially a legal robbery of Indians.” Congress ended the program in 1972.⁸

Between 1962 and 1969, city abatement campaigns destroyed at least 235 buildings. Inspectors tagged structures as unsafe, gave residents as little as 72 hours to vacate, and sent in bulldozers and the fire department. Residents came home to find their houses burned with belongings inside.⁹¹⁰ As many as 1,000 residents were displaced, most of them people of color, with no relocation assistance or compensation.¹¹

In 1968, California Deputy Attorney General Loren Miller Jr. investigated and called the destruction a “city-engineered holocaust.” The report found the city frequently destroyed homes without waiting for statutory notice periods to expire and kept no official records of the displaced. Miller also concluded that “there is no evidence that any crimes were committed,” a finding rooted in the legal framework of the time. The State of California took no formal action beyond publishing the report, and the abatement campaigns continued until 1969.⁴

How the Settlement Came Together

For decades, the history sat largely unaddressed. In 2000, former residents sought a formal apology; the mayor at the time wrote a letter of acknowledgment but issued no formal apology.⁶

That changed in the early 2020s. On August 6, 2020, the Palm Springs City Council declared systemic racism a human rights and public health crisis. On September 29, 2021, the council adopted a resolution formally apologizing for the city’s role in the forced evictions.¹²

Pearl Devers, who was 12 when her family was displaced, co-founded the advocacy group Section 14 Survivors Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that now includes more than 400 descendants.¹³ Attorney Areva Martin of Martin & Martin LLP represents the group. In 2022, Martin and economist Dr. Julianne Malveaux produced a preliminary harm assessment estimating total economic damages between $400 million and $2 billion.¹⁴

The survivors’ group filed a tort claim, and Martin argued that pending California legislation to lift statutes of limitations for race-related takings claims gave the city an incentive to settle rather than litigate.¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷

In April 2024, the council agreed to offer $4.3 million in direct compensation to residents with verified property losses. That number rose after updated data identified 197 homes involved in the abatements, up from an original estimate of 145.¹⁸ On November 13, 2024, the survivors formally accepted a final offer of $5.9 million, and the council approved the agreement the following day.¹⁹

What the Settlement Includes

The full package announced in November 2024 has two parts. The first is the legally binding settlement of $5.9 million in direct compensation to verified former residents and their descendants for personal property losses.¹

The second part is a set of city initiatives the city says are separate from the settlement agreement, though the survivors’ group treats them as part of the same reparations package:

$10 million over ten years for first-time homebuyer assistance, with priority access for Section 14 families.
$10 million for a community land trust for affordable housing.
$1 million for small business support, in partnership with the Caravanserai Project.
Commitments to rename a community park, establish a public monument, and offer support for a Section 14 Cultural and Racial Healing Center.

The city has emphasized that only the $5.9 million is contractually part of the settlement; the housing and business programs are city initiatives.¹ Martin and the survivors’ group have characterized the full package as a $27 million reparations agreement.²

Who Qualified and How Payments Were Made

To qualify for a share of the $5.9 million, survivors and descendants had to submit three documents establishing residency in Section 14 during the clearance years. Accepted proof included phone books, school records, and marriage certificates. Each application was reviewed by a retired California Supreme Court justice serving pro bono.²⁰

Disbursement was conditional. The city required at least 1,200 signed legal waivers before releasing funds. By October 6, 2025, nearly 1,500 waivers had been submitted, and the city transferred the full $5.9 million to the claimants’ legal representatives the following day.³ As of mid-2025, Martin said approximately 350 claims remained under review, with the process expected to take another 60 to 90 days. She said the team was “more interested in fairness and making sure everyone that wants to participate is given an opportunity to do so than driven by any deadlines.”²⁰

Disputes Over the Payouts

The distribution has drawn complaints. Some individuals reported being denied payments; one person reported receiving just over $5,000. The survivors’ organization said rejections resulted from missing documentation, missed deadlines, or unverified information. Pearl Devers declined to publicly disclose individual payment amounts or total legal fees paid to Martin, saying only that the fees were “below what could have been charged for a case of this complexity.”²¹

Questions have also been raised about the board composition of the Section 14 nonprofit, specifically regarding Michael Martin, attorney Areva Martin’s daughter, joining the board. Devers said that occurred after the settlement process concluded.²¹

What’s Still Outstanding

The non-settlement housing commitments are still in early stages. The $10 million first-time homebuyer program, proposed as $1 million per year over a decade with 20 percent of funding reserved for Section 14 families during a priority period, was postponed at the October 22, 2025, city council meeting to allow further community feedback. No funds had been disbursed as of mid-2026.²² Seventy-four survivors and descendants had expressed interest in the program as of late 2025.²³ The status of the $10 million community land trust has not been publicly detailed.

On the memorialization side, the city has committed to establishing a public memorial, dedicating a park, and offering letters of support for a proposed Section 14 Cultural and Racial Healing Center. The city is not obligated to fund the center itself.³ As of April 2026, the survivors’ organization said it was focused on holding the city accountable for these non-monetary commitments.²¹

1
City of Palm Springs. Section 14 Settlement Clarification
2
Politico. Palm Springs Reparations Settlement
3
City of Palm Springs. Section 14 Settlement Payment Fulfilled
4
The Desert Sun. Palm Springs History Section 14
5
The New York Times. Section 14 Palm Springs Reparations
6
American Indian Magazine. Section 14
7
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. Our Story
8
The Palm Springs Post. Agua Caliente Tribe Tells Story of Discrimination, Resilience in New Exhibit on Section 14
9
Urban Land Institute. Section 14: How Land Use and Legacy Collided in Palm Springs
10
The Guardian. California Palm Springs Section 14 Homes Burned Survivors Justice
11
ABC News. Palm Springs Razed Black Brown Neighborhood
12
City of Palm Springs. Section 14 Community Update
13
Section 14 Survivors. About Us
14
ABC News. Black Mexican Families Forcibly Evicted Palm Springs
15
Areva Martin. Palm Springs Section 14 Survivors Make Historic Offer
16
KESQ. Palm Springs Commissioned Section 14 Historical Context Study Released
17
City of Palm Springs. Section 14 Historical Context Study Released
18
The Desert Sun. Palm Springs City Council Proposed Section 14 Settlement
19
EngagePalmSprings. Section 14
20
KQED. Palm Springs Payment Lag Reveals Hurdles in California’s Racial Justice Efforts
21
KESQ. Section 14: Healing or Hurting
22
Urban Palm Springs. First-Time Homebuyers
23
USC Annenberg Media. One Year After a Historic Settlement, Section 14 Survivors Are Still Fighting