ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Invisible but Always There

They were few in number, only a dozen or so, and hidden from view most of the time, the way America prefers its homeless. But this week the state Department of Transportation evicted the squatters from their longtime encampment near the San Diego Freeway at Beach Boulevard after complaints from nearby businesses that some of the homeless were shoplifting and breaking into cars.

Those evicted were not just told to hit the road. In a good move, representatives of the nonprofit Mental Health Assn. of Orange County gave the homeless information about assistance, including shelters.

But the association’s program coordinator, Paul Wager, underscored the depth of the homeless problem in Orange County when he noted that there is not even one bed available for every 10 people homeless in the county. Wager correctly pointed out that not enough resources are being allocated to help the homeless. With understatement, he called it a “tough situation.”

Caltrans also followed its sensible policy of warning the homeless of impending evictions, notifying them several days in advance of what was coming. But it is difficult to see why the agency could not have waited several additional days, since some of the homeless said they had been there for three or even five years.

It is also hard to see why the Huntington Beach police could not have tried to determine just who among the homeless were the alleged criminals, and arrested them, rather than sweeping out all of them.

Those who were forced to move said the crime was the fault of a few bad apples passing through, not the long-term residents, a view supported by advocates for the homeless who were aware of the encampment, in oleander and acacia bushes.

The Homeless Issues Task Force recently estimated the number of homeless in the county at 12,000, 30% to 50% of them children. Ground was broken two months ago for the county’s first shelter for the mentally ill homeless, but much more needs to be done to help people who may disappear from view but who will not just go away.