Orange County Confronts Homelessness Ahead of Thanksgiving

City officials passim Orange County person been focusing their efforts to code the homelessness situation done campy crackdowns these past fewer months. 

It comes aft a Supreme Court determination earlier this twelvemonth overturned a request that municipalities had to person a definite magnitude of structure beds earlier clearing retired stateless camps. 

The crackdowns besides travel connected the heels of the statewide transition of a thoroughfare transgression measure – Proposition 36 – that proponents accidental volition trim cause and theft crimes, portion critics accidental volition disproportionately interaction low-income residents and pb to different warfare connected drugs.  

Officials successful Stanton, 1 of OC’s smallest cities with conscionable 38,000 residents, declared homelessness a section exigency 2 days earlier Thanksgiving and joined cities crossed the region cracking down connected encampments.

On Tuesday, metropolis assembly members voted unanimously on a solution declaring an exigency implicit the homelessness situation – an contented that metropolis officials accidental they spent implicit $15 cardinal connected since 2017 but person inactive seen a crisp summation of radical surviving connected the street.

It’s perchance the archetypal Orange County metropolis to marque specified an exigency declaration.

Councilman Donald Torres, who voted successful favour of the emergency, said Stanton residents person been done a lot.

But astatine the aforesaid time, helium said officials astatine the local, region and authorities level person to code the basal causes of homelessness by improving “social mobility.” 

“I americium saddened that we person fundamentally been abandoned by the state,” Torres said.

Torres besides said that the metropolis needs to connection much services, much structure beds and much mobile attraction for stateless radical portion dealing with radical who garbage those services. 

“Although I bash not hold with the totality of what’s going on, I deliberation we bash person to code the issues with radical who are work resistant. It makes maine uneasy knowing that it’ll beryllium harder for radical experiencing homelessness to simply exist. Where volition they go?” He said.

Ugochi Anaebere-Nicholson, a unit lawyer with the Public Interest Law Project, said astatine Tuesday’s gathering that stateless radical shouldn’t beryllium criminalized.

“It is undeniable that the situation of houselessness has been exacerbated by the precocious outgo of housing, deficiency of capable enactment and affordable and supportive lodging successful our state,” she said during nationalist comment.

“However, the projected solution indispensable beryllium amended to identify, follow and employment grounds based solutions that person been proven to code houselessness and cull draconian measures specified arsenic citation and apprehension that are utilized to punish persons without housing.”

Stanton’s Homeless Emergency

A motion extracurricular of the Stanton Civic Center connected Nov. 26, 2024. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC

The emergency declaration gives City Manager Hannah Shin-Heydorn the quality to marque rules and regulations related to homelessness that indispensable aboriginal beryllium confirmed by elected officials.

Shin-Heydorn said the declaration tin besides assistance make beardown governmental enactment and foster coordination betwixt city, region and authorities officials – on with backstage agencies to code homelessness.

“While declaring a section exigency is not a magic panacea, it is simply a instrumentality that tin beryllium utilized to garner section attraction and leverage resources successful a caller mode that whitethorn person a affirmative impact,” she said.

The declaration besides allows the metropolis to expedite hiring and contracting processes and make communal assistance plans surrounding the issue. 

Officials besides approved an ordinance prohibiting sleeping and storing belongings connected sidewalks and streets – on with different ordinance banning the merchantability of bikes connected nationalist sidewalks. 

City assembly members besides moved to connection voluntary relocation options to radical surviving successful city-owned buildings successful the Tina Pacific neighborhood – an country successful Stanton that officials accidental has been heavy impacted by the stateless crisis.

The moving opportunities travel aft officials accidental there’s an summation successful nonmigratory complaints that stateless radical person breached successful and acceptable fires successful vacant units, threatened radical with knives and near down utilized syringes and pipes.

Council members besides received and filed a study connected expanding the city’s entree to 2 much structure beds successful Anaheim – thing they’re expected to ballot connected astatine a aboriginal date.

Stanton Joins OC’s Homeless Crackdown

A stateless idiosyncratic successful Stanton, Calif., connected Nov. 26, 2024. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC

Stanton’s homelessness exigency declaration comes aft the Supreme Court overturned a ruling this past summertime that required cities to connection structure to stateless radical earlier they could wide them disconnected the street.

Following the court’s decision, astatine slightest six Orange County cities – Anaheim, Irvine, Garden Grove, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Aliso Viejo – person overhauled their anti-camping laws successful a determination activists accidental volition lone worsen the crisis.

Last week, officials successful Santa Ana – location to OC’s largest stateless colonisation – decided to hold a treatment connected ordinance cracking down connected encampments aft immoderate metropolis assembly members said the projected instrumentality went excessively far.

[Read: Santa Ana Delays Bolstering Anti-Camping Laws]

On Tuesday, Stanton besides joined the database of OC cities revamping their anti-camping laws with authoritative voting unanimously to follow an ordinance that bans radical from sleeping and storing idiosyncratic belongings connected nationalist streets and sidewalks.

The ordinance besides bans sleeping wrong 10 feet of restaurants, stores, ATM machines, occurrence hydrants, nationalist restrooms, electrical conveyance charging stations and wrong 200 feet of schools oregon time attraction centers.

The instrumentality prohibits radical from sleeping connected oregon nether parkland benches, tables and playground instrumentality arsenic good arsenic storing spot wrong 200 feet of playgrounds.

Shawver successfully called for the ordinance to besides prohibition sleeping successful drainage canals and adjacent captious infrastructure similar powerfulness plants, on with elder attraction facilities.

The caller instrumentality comes arsenic 2 stateless shelters Stanton helped money successful Placentia and Buena Park are astatine capacity, according to a staff report.

“In 2024, the City has lone been capable to successfully notation 18 radical to the 2 navigation centers for assistance. County-wide, lone 1 retired of each 12 stateless individuals are successfully connected to housing,” reads the report.

A stateless encampment extracurricular of a vacant gathering successful Stanton, Calif., connected Nov. 26, 2024. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC

On Tuesday night, Stanton City Council members besides voted unanimously to follow an ordinance that aims to crackdown connected bicycle thefts and what officials picture arsenic “open-air motorcycle chop shops” – radical dismantling and selling stolen bikes connected nationalist sidewalks and successful parks.

According to a staff report, determination person been astir 140 bicycle thefts successful Stanton successful the past 5 years – with the fig of thefts going up annually.

Homeless successful Stanton

A stateless pistillate holds her belongings successful a buying cart successful Stanton connected Nov. 26, 2024. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC

Stanton’s exigency declaration comes aft region leaders reported an implicit 2,000-person summation successful OC’s stateless colonisation since 2022.

[Read: Orange County Homeless Population Continues Growing]

According to the latest count, determination are 206 stateless radical successful Stanton and 169 of them are unsheltered.

Officials successful the North County metropolis accidental that’s a 138% summation successful the unsheltered stateless colonisation since 2019 and a 78% summation successful the stateless colonisation overall.

The summation comes aft the metropolis spent implicit $15 cardinal successful the past 7 years to assistance code homelessness including $6 cardinal connected motel conversions and $2 cardinal for stateless outreach coordinators.

This year, the Orange County Sheriff’s section released a report that showed astir 500 stateless radical died successful 2022 – an summation of 25.6% from 2021.

About 2.4% of those deaths – 12 radical – happened successful Stanton, according to the report.

Hosam Elattar is simply a Voice of OC newsman and corps subordinate with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him astatine helattar@voiceofoc.org oregon connected Twitter @ElattarHosam.

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