A recent free UC Irvine community forum talking about the demographics, causes, costs and solutions around homelessness featured Voice of OC Publisher Norberto Santana, Jr. The event focused on sharing research, presenting ideas and discussing action plans.
“The current wave of homelessness is a pressing problem sparing few communities across the United States,” states a flier about the event. “Since the issue came to the forefront in the early 1980s, estimates of the number of homelessness have waxed and waned, but the crisis of American citizens experiencing homelessness continues to persist. Orange County and its 34 municipalities have not been spared this crisis.”
Santana specifically talked about the politics of homelessness, including the lack of leadership from politicians who need to focus on critical quality of life issues facing local communities. He also discussed how spending more money on mental health services and on helping the homeless find housing and jobs could decrease costs in other areas such as police and health care.