Orange County will spend $70.5 million for permanent housing for homeless

Orange County Register ^ | 3/19/18 | Jordan Graham

[jeannineinsd]

Supervisors voted Monday for Orange County to spend $70.5 million on permanent housing for the homeless, and to create temporary homeless camps in Irvine, and possibly in Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel.

The vote comes a week after supervisors committed $20 million toward permanent housing for the homeless. The combined $90 million is likely the single largest appropriation ever committed by the county to fight homelessness, and signals a shift in the county’s strategy to solve the growing issue.

The decision came as supervisors admitted that they’ve failed to spend money that’s been available for homeless housing – tens of millions of dollars technically earmarked for mental health funding. Supervisors said they’d been misled by county staff as to what resources were available, though news reports for at least two years have pointed to the availability of up to $186 million.

Staff will advise supervisors in the coming weeks about how the county can acquire land or renovate buildings. It’s unclear when actual construction, or acquisition of housing, might begin.

For homeless advocates, the vote was a welcome surprise.

“It’s really great to see the county finally… take steps to ending the housing crisis in Orange County,” said Brooke Weitzman, an attorney who this year sued the county on behalf of the homeless.

Monday’s vote emerged from negotiations in that ongoing lawsuit, which targeted the county’s efforts to dismantle the homeless encampments along the Santa Ana River Trail. As part of an agreement in that case, the county in February moved nearly 700 people to local motels for 30-day stays.

But as motel vouchers began to expire on Friday, and the county prepared to move people to other temporary shelters, attorneys for the homeless alleged there isn’t enough capacity to shelter all of those who were being moved.

[jeannineinsd]

Full Title: Orange County will spend $70.5 million for permanent housing for homeless, possibly add temporary shelters in Irvine, Huntington Beach, Laguna Niguel

This is the latest in the ongoing saga of the former homeless encampment on the Santa Ana River in Orange County, California.

Brief background: There was a very large homeless encampment on the bike trail beside Santa Ana River in Orange County, California. In January 2018, the County started to clear the encampment of homeless to start an environmental cleanup. Lawyer Brooke Weitzman filed a lawsuit and Federal Judge David O. Carter issued a temporary restraining order against the eviction. A deal was brokered so that Orange County would pay for 30 day motel stays for people living along the river trail. Now, the 30 day motel stays are starting to come to an end. This is the latest appropriation of money by the county to deal with the homeless issue.

The environmental and public health impact of the homeless encampment was substantial. Thousands of pounds of human waste and over 13,000 used needles were cleaned up from the area after the homeless were gone.

Previous articles on this issue:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3638683/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3636782/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3635743/posts

Not mentioned in the above newspaper articles, but important to note, is that the neighboring county of San Diego experienced a Hepatitis A epidemic centered among its homeless population. San Diego County had over 500 cases of hepatitis A, including 20 fatalities.

https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/hhsa/programs/phs/community_epidemiology/dc/Hepatitis_A.html

[goldendelicious]

NO WAY!! I fled California about 5 years ago because of all the vibrant diversity and the benefits from living around the noble homeless, and Irvine, Huntington and Laguna were the only good parts left! I always loved Huntington Beach. I basically grew up there. It was a paradise years ago. Amazing what is happening, and so fast.

[lee martell]

But no money for new inpatient facilities for the chronically ill mental patient? This should also be part of the budget.

[LuvFreeRepublic]

I lived in HB for 25 years. Left 10 years ago and never looked back. Sad what has happened to the State.

[political1]

Get them off drugs, and find them jobs, and 90% of the problem will be solved.

[DoughtyOne]

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Just $155.00 dollars to 95.00%

[butlerweave]

and would they still be Homeless ?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Why doesn’t Mother Government forcibly assign a few homeless people to each homeowner in that county?

Problem solved! Everyone now has a home! ;)

Sorry! I probably just gave them an idea...

(Fled San Diego in 1982.)

[cranked]

Liberalism and Progressivism is literally a cancer that destroys anything and everything it touches, yo. In a sense, you have just testified to such with your comment and observation. California, along with a host of other examples such as Chicago, Detroit, etc., are prime examples of that actual cancer destroying this country.

[Jane Long]

and would they still be Homeless ?

---

And, would they still be drug addicts??? Would they still have mental issues????

[goldendelicious]

My best childhood memories are those I have from Huntington. Went there all the time down Beach Blvd. Right before I left 5 years ago to travel across the country, I took one last trip on the beach. Guess what??!! I stepped on a needle! One of those diabetes tester needles. (Mexicans and diabetes go together like peanut butter and chocolate.) I was so mad. The Doctor told me not to worry, but I’m still worrying. What a going away present. I haven’t looked back. I miss the Halloween Haunt and Chicken Dinner Restaurant at Knott’s. I miss Disneyland. I miss driving up to Laughlin.

[packrat35]

A bus ticket out of town would be cheaper.

[MoochPooch]

My stepmother lives in Laguna Woods, near that bike trail. She said it was awful. Since she’s a psychologist who works for the state, I wonder what she thinks of the above measure.

I may sound like Scrooge (”No prisons? No workhouses?”), but I believe that the mentally ill should be institutionalized, rather than allowed to roam freely at the expense of the taxpayers’ health or well-being. That money should go toward affordable housing for the working or middle class, not people who willfully make bad choices or bad lifestyles.

[d_snow]

“and would they still be Homeless ?”

....that’s what I was going to ask.....

[goldstategop]

I’m on a waiting list for public housing in rural CO.

Gee, in CA it’ll be decades before Section 8 housing ever gets built.

And then there’s the inevitable waiting list...

[ColdOne]

Guess who will get the majority of that 70 mil???? Won’t be the homeless. Some of the gov officials working as homeless helpers get at least 140k a year.

Homeless major pet peeve of mine. It is just a plan to destroy this country into a 3rd world nation. Notice where homeless are not.....not anywhere near gov officials. Pfffft!

[Jane Long]

Brief background: There was a very large homeless encampment on the bike trail beside Santa Ana River in Orange County, California. In January 2018, the County started to clear the encampment of homeless to start an environmental cleanup.....

......The environmental and public health impact of the homeless encampment was substantial. Thousands of pounds of human waste and over 13,000 used needles were cleaned up from the area after the homeless were gone.....

.....Not mentioned in the above newspaper articles, but important to note, is that the neighboring county of San Diego experienced a Hepatitis A epidemic centered among its homeless population. ....

---

Testing my understanding.....are you saying this $70 MILLION housing, paid for by taxpayers, is the solution to your above mentioned problems? Just checking.

[Yaelle]

So to get a nice house with a view of the ocean in Laguna, I just need to shoot up heroin by the river for a few weeks?

[MoochPooch]

Get them off drugs, and find them jobs, and 90% of the problem will be solved.

I wonder what percentage of them are actually employable. They may be taking drugs to medicate themselves.

What comes to mind is the song "King of the Road." Some of these people prefer to drift, just doing their own thing & expecting everyone else to support them.

[circlecity]

No doubt it will be a toxic waste dump within 5 years. And crime will triple within a 1 mile radius.