Soup Kitchens: Down on Their Luck Too : With Costa Mesa Nearing the Loss of Its Last One, a Regional Approach Is Needed

A year ago, Costa Mesa had two soup kitchens to serve those hungry and down on their luck. In a few weeks, it may have none.

The city has done a better job than many others in Orange County in recognizing the problems of have-nots. Rather than shut its eyes, the city commendably has tried to balance the wishes of its residents and the needs of transients.

If the city has found it tough trying to juggle competing interests, charities have found it difficult heeding city rules while following their callings. The group Share Our Selves ended a lunch program last year after nearby residents and businesses in Costa Mesa said the program was a magnet for vagrants and, too often, criminals.

In part because of an increase in homelessness in Orange County, in part because Share Our Selves ended its program, the nearby food program of the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen boomed.

Several years ago, Someone Cares fed about 100 people on an average day. A soup kitchen volunteer said that that number recently had increased to 250 to 300 daily.

Unfortunately, the complaints directed against those using the SOS soup kitchen were redirected at clients of Someone Cares. The charity, operating the kitchen from the First United Methodist Church for the past several years, heeded city officials’ urgings not to serve known criminals or drug addicts. That resulted in a lessening of police calls to the church, but it did not stop complaints about clients wandering the neighborhood before and after eating, panhandling and using yards as toilets.

The church said it will stop providing space for the soup kitchen April 1. But it has promised to help Someone Cares search for new space, which is a good idea. Evicting the soup kitchen will not solve the problems of hunger or homelessness. It may push the less fortunate onto someone else’s streets, either elsewhere in Costa Mesa or in another city, but the problem will remain.

As Costa Mesa’s mayor noted correctly a year ago, the problem of homelessness demands a regional solution. The county already has a homeless issues task force, which has done good work documenting the extent of the problem. Solutions are more difficult, however. County officials should try to help by seeing which cities are willing to work together for a solution and by searching for the best way to help the hungry and the homeless without antagonizing residents of the cities where they congregate.