SANTA ANA : Panel Backs Hygiene Centers for Homeless

To help the homeless, the Mayor’s Task Force on Neighborhood Policing has recommended that the city enlist private organizations to build and maintain free public hygiene centers equipped with showers, toilets and washing machines.

In a report to be presented to the City Council on May 7, the 20-member task force detailed a series of recommendations that call on Santa Ana and other cities to create a network of private and public aid for the homeless.

According to official estimates, about 10,000 homeless people live in Orange County, and about 1,500 of those stay in Santa Ana, sleeping in public parks and on the Civic Center grounds.

“There’s very few places the homeless can go for a shower,” said John Garthe, a member of the task force. “They need a place to get clean, to wash their clothes, to feel human again.”

The task force was formed last year to seek solutions to problems caused by homelessness, drug use, gangs and deteriorating neighborhoods in Santa Ana.

The group’s report does not say how many hygiene centers should be built. But Garthe said that one could be established on a trial basis to see how well such a facility would work.

Mayor Daniel H. Young said Santa Ana will probably try one out before asking the rest of the county to establish similar facilities.

Sam Boyce, director of Newport Beach-based Street People in Need, an organization that helps the homeless, applauded the task force’s recommendation. Boyce’s organization had previously asked the city for community funds to build bathroom facilities, but was turned down.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” Boyce said. “This shows that Santa Ana has decided to provide essential services to the homeless so they can feel better about themselves and get back into the work force.”