Law to Evict Homeless Gets Council’s OK : Government: An ordinance requiring apartment building inspections in certain areas of Santa Ana is also approved.

In an attempt to clean up the Civic Center and surrounding neighborhoods, the City Council on Monday approved an ordinance that prohibits the homeless from sleeping on public property and another that requires health and safety inspections of apartment buildings in certain parts of the city.

The ordinance aimed at the estimated 300 homeless people now living in shanties around the Civic Center will make it illegal to camp, sleep or store personal belongings on public property. The law will evict the homeless from the Civic Center when it goes into effect in early September.

Jennifer Easel, a police records specialist who works at the Civic Center, spoke in support of the ordinance, citing verbal harassment and fear of assaults by transients. “Our safety is being threatened,” she told the council.

After the council approved the ordinance, Easel said the action is “a step in the right direction” in reducing crime in the area. But, she said, “I still feel it is a tragic situation for people who are homeless.”

Dawn Zuckernick, a homeless woman who lives in the Civic Center, said she hasn’t read the ordinance and did not know if she opposed it. However, she added that “I don’t think they fully pursued all viable options.”

Zuckernick said the money that will be spent on enforcing the ordinance could be better spent on providing homeless shelters.

The council gave preliminary approval for the ordinance in May, but postponed a final vote in June after a last-minute plea from citizens that the homeless be treated humanely.

The council agreed to give the citizens, local businesses and social workers enough time to find alternative housing and treatment programs for those homeless people who are considered mentally ill or addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Before the meeting, Kathy Winter, co-chair of Operation Fresh Start, which has been helping the homeless find jobs and temporary housing, said she was grateful the council had granted the extension. She said the additional time helped her group find shelter for 40 people and drug treatment for six others.

Although she does not have hard data on how many others have found housing, she said Fresh Start members have noticed a decrease in the number of people who now reside in the Civic Center and said that many of them have gone to live with relatives.

Winters said that extension “gave the people time to get serious about moving. They had the time to plan to do it. That’s dignity. That’s what we wanted, the opportunity for them to take care of themselves.”

Winters said that Santa Ana, which has the most shelters of any city in the county, has done a lot for the homeless, but could still open vacant buildings and empty lots as temporary shelters, and she called upon other cities to do the same.

Councilman Robert L. Richardson called upon the community to rally behind Operation Fresh Start and also Shelter for the Homeless, adding that people “should put their money where their hearts are and where their mouths are and do something.”

Richardson said that people interested in donating money to the homeless can send it to Shelter for the Homeless, 8291 Westminster Blvd., Suite 170, Westminster, Calif. 92683.

The council also approved another ordinance designed to clean up local neighborhoods by requiring health and safety code inspections of rental properties in designated areas.

Richard J. Lambros, a spokesman for the Apartment Assn. of Orange County, said his organization supports the plan, although it objects to the cost of the program being borne by apartment owners. He suggested the city find an alternative method of funding the program.

The council voted 5-2 in favor of the program, with Councilmen John Acosta and Richards L. Norton opposing it.

Under the ordinance, all of the city’s 35,000 rental properties will be assessed a $17.50-per-unit annual business tax surcharge to pay for a beefed-up inspection team that would sweep specific target areas for state and city code violations. An eight-member advisory committee, which will include staff and apartment owners, will suggest to the council which areas will be inspected and review the program’s performance.

The $612,000 program will employ nine new staff members, including a permit processor, program coordinator and four new inspectors. A report to the council states that inspectors would target code violations that threaten occupants’ safety.

The city will also offer unspecified financial incentives for “exemplary” residential properties to reward responsible property owners. The program will run until Dec. 31, 1999, at which time the council may assess its progress and consider whether to continue it.

During the presentation, the city staff showed a series of slides depicting some of the filthy and hazardous conditions caused by inadequate plumbing and faulty wiring in apartments.