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By Sophie Austin

The Associated Press

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. 鈥� A Southern California city will pay $5.9 million to compensate Black and Latino families who were displaced from a neighborhood in the 1960s and decades later聽led a fight for restitution.

The Palm Springs City Council approved聽the deal聽in a unanimous vote on Thursday. The council also approved $10 million for a first-time homebuyer assistance program, $10 million for a community land trust, and the creation of a monument commemorating the history of the neighborhood known as Section 14.

Mayor Jeffrey Bernstein earlier in the week said the city is 鈥渢aking bold and important action that will create lasting benefits for our entire community while providing programs that prioritize support for the former residents of Section 14.鈥�

It has not been determined how much each family or individual would receive in direct compensation, attorney Areva Martin said earlier in the week. Martin represents over 300 former residents and hundreds of descendants. Money for housing assistance would go toward low-income Palm Springs residents, with priority given to former Section 14 residents and descendants.

鈥淭he fact that we got this over the finish line is remarkable given the headwinds that we faced,鈥� Martin said.

Section 14 was a square-mile neighborhood on a Native American reservation that many Black and Mexican American families once called home. Families recalled houses in the area being burned and torn down before residents were told to vacate their homes.

The city council voted in 2021 to formally apologize for the city鈥檚 role in the displacement. Families filed a tort claim with the city in 2022, and the following year announced they were seeking $2.3 billion for the harm caused by their displacement.

The tort claim argued the tragedy was akin to the violence that decimated a vibrant community known as聽Black Wall Street聽more than a century ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma, leaving as many as 300 people dead. There were no reported deaths in connection with the displacement of families from Section 14.

Pearl Devers, a Palmdale resident who lived in Section 14 with her family until age 12, said the agreement was a long-overdue acknowledgement of how families’ lives were forever changed by the displacement.

鈥淲hile no amount of money can fully restore what we lost, this agreement helps pave the way for us all to finally move forward,鈥� she stated.

The deal comes as reparations efforts at the state level have yielded mixed results. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in September to聽formally apologize聽for the state鈥檚 legacy of racism and discrimination against Black residents. But state lawmakers聽blocked a bill聽that would have created an agency to administer reparations programs, and Newsom聽vetoed a proposal聽that would have helped Black families reclaim property that was seized unjustly by the government through eminent domain.