Place for Homeless (and Advocates)

It was very interesting to find another letter (May 7) complaining about non-Santa Ana residents protesting at the Santa Ana City Council meetings about homeless and housing issues.

Interesting, because even the Santa Ana council members no longer complain or attempt to portray protesters as outside agitators as they once did under the regime of former Mayor Dan Young.

Why? Because the Catholic Worker Community, which has been organizing and leading the protests at the Santa Ana City Council for the past five years, is based in Santa Ana.

The letter says that those who protest don’t came in contact with the homeless of Santa Ana. This statement is not based on fact.

Since 1987, the Catholic Worker Community has served meals and housed the homeless of Santa Ana without government handouts or grants, day in and day out. To portray protesters as bleeding hearts misses the point that Santa Ana is engaged in a protracted attack on the poor of our city. The city continues to waste thousands of tax dollars on a morally bankrupt policy that treats the homeless like outlaws, all for the personal political gain of the council members.

As we have said from Day One, none of the homeless of Santa Ana nor the homeless advocates want to return to the tent city in the Civic Center. Rather, we want the council to work on humane solutions, such as emergency/temporary shelter and job training.

Instead, the city directs its police and city attorney to waste tax dollars enforcing and writing ordinances that do nothing to improve the housing crisis the city faces.

Any person on the streets deserves the right to sleep under a blanket without risking arrest. The City Council should stop attacking the homeless and work with the religious, spiritual and business communities on policies that work and don’t divide our city.

We were hoping that our new mayor would be such a person. We are still waiting. Meanwhile, the attacks and scapegoating continue. Let’s get on with the work of uniting our city with the most workable and humane policy toward the homeless.

TIM CARPENTER

Catholic Worker Community

Santa Ana