Grand Jury: Homeless Need to Become Priority

The Orange County Grand Jury on Wednesday released a report urging the Board of Supervisors to appoint a high level director to address the county’s problem of homelessness, which it said was growing 17% a year.

The problem, the 10-page report said, “does not appear to be a priority” with the board, which allocated $143,000 to the issue for fiscal 2005-06.

“The board should reconsider the current priority level for homeless issues,” the report concludes.

Of the county’s estimated 35,000 homeless, the report found, about 16,300 are children. “The sad truth,” said a release accompanying the report, “is that for these 35,000 homeless, there are only about 2,950 available beds.”