Homeless Programs Need Coordination, Grand Jury Repeats

An Orange County Grand Jury report released Thursday criticized the county for not coordinating its homeless relief programs--as the jury recommended 2 years ago--and recommended that the government appoint a full-time homeless coordinator.

The report also said that the number of homeless children is on the rise and called on school officials throughout the county to better track transient students who are not receiving a regular education because they move so frequently between jurisdictions.

“Of the county’s estimated 4,000 to 5,000 homeless people, a growing proportion, possibly one-third, are families with children,” the report said. “ . . . Compounding the problem is the lack of coordination of government agencies, as previously noted in a 1986-87 grand jury report.”

The report continued: “Cities and localities seem to be failing to provide services to the homeless for fear of becoming a magnet for street people. Perhaps for the same reason, the county tacitly supports the work of private service providers . . . but doesn’t appropriate money from the general fund.”

Larry Leaman, director of the county’s Social Services Agency, was not available Thursday. But one supervisor said the county already is at the limit of its funding ability to help the homeless.

Supervisor Don R. Roth said, “I’m really concerned about the homeless. My heart goes out to them. But there isn’t any money. That’s the problem.

“I’m concerned about next year’s budget maintaining the status quo,” Roth said. “It’s frustrating to me.”

Roth said that he had not seen the grand jury’s report but that he talked Thursday with Leaman about the homeless. Leaman “said we were at the capacity of doing the things we are financially able to do,” Roth said.

Some community activists involved with the homeless were critical of the grand jury’s recommendations, although they qualified their comments because they had not seen the report.

“The goal is to create more transitional housing, and if the grand jury report doesn’t address that, they have missed a key element in this issue,” said Scott Mather, chairman of the Orange County Homeless Task Force.

Grand juror Gilda Fehr said the committee did not recommend that the county build additional facilities for the homeless because it considered the cost unrealistic.

“We could have said build a building out there,” Fehr said. But “we’ve got to think of reasonable recommendations.”

Mather called the jury’s report “good, as far as it goes.” But he added, “If we don’t start looking at homelessness as a land-use issue rather than a social issue, we are never going to move forward.”

Also, both Mather and Jean Forbath, executive director of Share Our Selves, a Costa Mesa food and medical clinic for the poor and homeless, questioned the need for a homeless coordinator.

“I’m worried about another layer getting in the way of directly dealing with the problem,” Mather said.

Said Forbath, “Creating a homeless czar or chief honcho is not a smart expenditure. I’d rather take that money and spend it directly on relief for the homeless.”

The report, prepared by the grand jury’s five-member Human Services Committee, listed eight recommendations. In addition to the housing coordinator and the tracking program for homeless students, the report recommended that:

* Supervisors work with state Sen. Marian Bergeson’s (R-Newport Beach) Homeless Task Force to assist in a study of the problem and cooperate in a 5-year plan.

* The homeless coordinator develop a computerized referral system integrating county services with those of private providers, and that there be a toll-free phone number to provide information about available shelter space around the clock.

* The Social Services Agency establish more satellite offices, particularly in the fast-growing south county.

* Supervisors order creation of a directory of services that is updated annually.

* Supervisors assist private organizations with zoning approvals for converting vacant land--such as parking lots or buildings--into homeless shelters.

* The supervisors support a proposal to use an existing trailer to bring health care and food services to the homeless in outlying areas.