Aliso Viejo denounces federal judge’s statement alleging it ‘dumped’ homeless in Laguna Beach shelter

Aliso Viejo says it does not “dump” its homeless people in neighboring Laguna Beach, despite statements by U.S. District Judge David Carter during a settlement hearing between Laguna and a homeless advocacy group.

In what Laguna Beach called a “proactive” settlement hearing Sept. 23, Carter praised the city for its efforts with its homeless population and described it as “the one city historically that created an emergency shelter, transitional shelter and ... permanent supportive housing.”

The settlement with the nonprofit Orange County Catholic Worker avoided prospective litigation against the city on behalf of its homeless population.

Carter alleged in subsequent statements that the city of Aliso Viejo contributed to Laguna’s homeless count, citing a decline in the number of homeless in Aliso Viejo.

Carter said Aliso Viejo in 2017 had a homeless population of 28 but that in 2018, the number declined to one. The Point in Time count — a countywide tally done every two years — identified 15 homeless people in Aliso Viejo in January 2017.

“What happened to the other 27 homeless people from Aliso Viejo?” Carter said. “Twenty-seven people got transported or found their way miraculously from a neighboring city of Aliso Viejo to Laguna Beach.

“Check the records of the shelter and they went into the Laguna Beach shelter.”

According to a 2017 annual report for the Alternative Sleeping Location shelter on Laguna Canyon Road, 28 people served by the ASL in the 2016-17 fiscal year had their last known permanent address in Aliso Viejo. The ASL, which Laguna Beach has owned and funded since 2009, is one of two locations in town operated by the Friendship Shelter; the other is on South Coast Highway.

“There’s something inherently unfair when a community is generous and has ... done as good a job in terms of ... taking care of your homeless population ... has 27 people — and I’ll use the word — ‘dumped’ on you,” Carter said.

When contacted by the Daily Pilot, Carter declined to elaborate on his comments or where he got his figures.

The 2019 Point in Time count in January identified 147 homeless people in Laguna, 76 of whom were sheltered and 71 who were not.

The total was an increase from the 2017 count, which documented 88 homeless people in the city, 78 of them sheltered.

“You took care of your whole population until recently, and this was not your fault,” Carter said during the hearing.

Laguna Beach officials declined to comment.

But Aliso Viejo City Manager David Doyle described Carter’s allegation as false and irresponsible.

“Homeless individuals, by the very nature of being homeless, are transient,” Doyle said in a statement. “This fact is recognized and acknowledged by the County of Orange Department of Health Services, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and nearly all experts on the issue of homelessness.

“The use of terms like ‘dumping’ denigrates the rights of individuals experiencing homelessness to be where they choose to be and can be offensive to those individuals.”

Aliso Viejo was included in a lawsuit filed in February by Orange County Catholic Worker and the Elder Law and Disability Rights Center against several south Orange County cities. Aliso Viejo, along with other defendants, petitioned to remove Carter from the lawsuit. Carter was replaced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson.

Anderson dismissed Aliso Viejo from the lawsuit in August.

“Our most recent homeless Point in Time count conducted by the County of Orange did indeed show a single homeless person in [Aliso Viejo],” Doyle said. “However, working with our homeless liaison officer, we were able to recently reconnect this individual with his family and get him off the street. That will be the city’s policy and approach with other similar individuals in the future.”

Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.