People want a quick fix for homelessness. There isn’t one.

In Los Angeles, housing is scarce and homelessness is rising. That’s not a coincidence.

On April 20, a US District Court judge put his foot down.

“Here in Los Angeles, how did racism become embedded in the policies and structures of our new city,” he wrote. “What if there was a conscious effort, a deliberate intent, a cowardice of inaction?”

In more than 100 pages, Judge David O. Carter detailed the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles and its disparate impacts on Black residents. He was ruling on a case brought...