ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : The Grand Jury Makes a Wise Judgment

In the two years since a previous Orange County grand jury focused on homelessness, the problem has only grown worse. The current estimate is that there are 10,000 homeless people on the county’s streets, and among them are believed to be increasing numbers of women and children. Now the 1990-91 grand jury has issued another report, asking the county to provide leadership in addressing the issues that underlie the problem. The Board of Supervisors should heed the grand jury’s recommendations to form a blue-ribbon commission and to appoint a full-time county coordinator to deal with homelessness.

As the grand jury report stated, the reasons for any one person going without shelter are complex, ranging from the county’s dearth of low-cost housing to a person’s lack of employment skills or money for health care. There are many organizations that attack these various root causes. The Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force, for example, coordinates agencies and brings attention to homelessness. But as the grand jury pointed out, the task force is hampered by a lack of staff and money. Some volunteer groups do a good job providing emergency food or temporary shelter, and others search for new ways to provide low-cost housing. Among the governmental resources are social service programs administered by the county and several city-sponsored programs (although other cities ignore homelessness or try to shift it to their neighbors).

In any case, no one agency, whether it be governmental or volunteer, can, on its own, make a significant dent in homelessness. What is missing is a coordinated effort that could be provided only by the county.

But first county supervisors must endorse such an effort. When presented with findings in the latest grand jury report, Supervisor Thomas F. Riley became defensive. “Within our resources, we’re trying to be responsive,” he said, referring to the county’s severe budgetary problems.

Riley, whose office probably is the most helpful of any supervisor’s on homelessness issues, should recognize that the grand jury is not asking for a new bureaucracy. It is looking for ways to make optimal use of the services already at hand, ways that actually could lessen the demand for county social service programs.

The grand jury report provides yet another opportunity for the Board of Supervisors to seize the problem of homelessness.