COUNTYWIDE : Homeless-Issues Coordinator Named

When it comes to helping the homeless, sometimes one agency of county government doesn’t know what other agencies are doing, Maria Mendoza said.

But as Orange County’s newly appointed homeless-issues coordinator, Mendoza vows to help fix that problem.

The county Board of Supervisors appointed Mendoza last week to work full time coordinating efforts to help the homeless and to work with a newly created committee of high-ranking county officials charged with improving communication among county agencies. She starts in her new job today.

Mendoza’s job will include finding state and federal grants to assist with county homeless programs and representing the county on the nonprofit Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force and before other public and private groups serving the homeless.

Mendoza, 60, a Santa Ana resident, has performed several of those functions part time for five years. But her job as a senior staff analyst in the county’s management and budget office doesn’t leave a lot of time for homeless issues, she said.

Goals in her new job, Mendoza said, are to focus on services that help homeless women with children and to strengthen programs to keep poor families with children from becoming homeless.

“These are our children. This is our society of tomorrow growing up on the streets,” Mendoza said. “There are so many women living in poverty. It’s the growing population of the homeless. They’re usually just one paycheck away from living on the streets.”

One of her main jobs as homeless-issues coordinator will be working with the various county agencies serving the homeless, many of which are financially strapped, Mendoza said.

Since there is not enough funding to provide all needed services, she said, the key will be to get the county’s existing services operating more efficiently.

In addition to appointing Mendoza to the post, county supervisors also created the Homeless Issues Advisory Committee to coordinate county agencies’ efforts.

The committee, headed by a director in the county administrator’s office, will include deputy directors from the Social Services Agency, Health Care Agency, Environmental Management Agency and Community Services Agency.

Mendoza will serve as the committee’s full-time staff member.

The committee will probably meet for the first time this month.

Although Mendoza officially takes over as homeless coordinator today, her work in helping prepare county budgets will keep her busy for a couple of months.

“I really see us as getting a running start in September,” she said. “That’s when you’ll start seeing and hearing things.”