Orange County Shelter Needs

In Tuesday’s Times there were two stories concerning the homeless that outline the problems they face in Orange County and nationwide.

On the front page there were pictures of homeless people being displaced, and county Environmental Management Agency workers beginning work that will clear away the shelters that homeless people have built beneath several bridges over the Santa Ana River in Santa Ana. The areas will be made uninhabitable with large, heavy rocks on the ground and space under the bridge will be closed with cement.

The county agency, acting in response to complaints from nearby residents and joggers and riders using the bike trail that runs along the river, are not entirely heartless. They intend to give any homeless person they find a list of assistance centers and a quarter to make the phone call to find refuge.

The problem is that there are about 10,000 homeless people in Orange County--but only about 600 shelter beds. And the disparity, instead of getting less, has been widening. Now, even the bleak alternatives available to the homeless, like bridges, are being taken away from them.

Scott Mather, chairman of the Orange County Homeless Task Force, rightfully criticized the county’s failure to do more to find other places for the homeless they were displacing. Mather, who thinks the county should at least set up a temporary shelter, said that “the county needs to find a more compassionate way to take care of the homeless.” Indeed it should. And it should be joined by the rest of the community, like the City of Santa Ana.

Some of the homeless people being displaced from their makeshift homes and cardboard condos beneath the bridges said they plan to go to nearby Centennial Regional Park in Santa Ana. That park closes between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., however, and the homeless are forced to leave each night.

And while all this transpires, the City of Santa Ana is considering whether to file a lawsuit against the federal government to block its plans to lease four acres of land between Centennial Regional Park and the river. The federal land, classified as surplus, is to be leased to the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter of Costa Mesa, which plans to build temporary housing for the homeless.

The City of Santa Ana, instead, wants the land to build a training center for police and firefighters. There are other training facilities in the county. The location between the river and park next to an industrial complex is well-suited for temporary housing. And that need is far more critical.

Tuesday’s edition also contained a story on the Orange County Human Relations Commission’s appeal for community support for the Housing Now march on Washington next week. The march seeks to end homelessness, provide permanent affordable housing opportunities and restore federal housing assistance funds which have been cut 77% over the last eight years.

” . . . the commission is appalled by the thousands of Orange Countians unable to find suitable housing,” said Jean Forbath, chairwoman of the commission. The community should be appalled, too. The homeless not only lack temporary housing but now are even running out of places in the street to find refuge for the night.