Another 20 people died “without fixed abode” in OC in July. Their names are:
Eric LOZANO who died on July 2nd in Santa Ana
Giovani LOPEZ who died on July 5th in Santa Ana
Miguel MEDINA PULIDO who died on July 7th in Garden Grove
Martin YOUNG who died on July 14th in Westminster
Sheryl RICORD who died on July 14th in Orange
Vincent PRICE who died on July 15th in Santa Ana
Jeffrey BARBER who died on July 18th in Santa Ana
John CULVERSON who died on July 19th in Huntington Beach
Cheryl O’HARRA who died on July 19th in Anaheim
Amanda SMITH who died on July 20th in Fullerton
Jesus HERRERA who died on July 21st in Fullerton
Noah PADDOCK who died on July 23rd in Anaheim
Howard KOWALSKI who died on July 24th in Garden Grove
Broc HILL who died on July 24th in Santa Ana
Brook ANDREWS who died on July 26th in Huntington Beach
Natasha QUINTANA who died on July 27th in Anaheim
Kevin LOPEZ RAMOS who died on July 29th in Brea
Robert WHITESIDE who died on July 29th in Lake Forest
Ronald IZZO who died on July 29th in Westminster
Shawn RUSSO who died on July 30th in Anaheim
As the number of homeless deaths in the county falls finally to pre-Covid levels, we still do have to ask ourselves why it should be remain acceptable to have about 20 people die each month from among those “without fixed abode” on our streets.
We blame the people, we blame the drugs. But when one talks to the people living on our streets, one finds that easily half and perhaps for a large majority of those who find themselves living without fixed abode, their drug habits only began when they found themselves homeless. And it’s easy to understand why: the stress of being vulnerable literally all the time.
Since the beginning of the summer, I’ve transitioned to a new job, providing pastoral services for one of California’s larger homeless providers, and one focused on providing recuperative care to homeless seniors and homeless people with disabilities.
There I’ve seen with my own eyes that even drug addiction is beatable. The difficulty becomes finding people a permanent roof over their heads, after they’ve had their medical respite, after they’ve regained a measure of peace, after they’ve become clean and sober:
And the challenge is familiar. Most people who find themselves homeless, without fixed abode, unsurprisingly have an eviction on their record. For many, even the vast majority of apartment owners, that’s a flag.
Then there’s the two-three months of rent that one needs to collect (first, last and a security now often called cleaning deposit). If one couldn’t handle paying one month’s rent, how’s one going to save together three?
These problems are of course not new. Rapid rehousing does offer some help, but even among the most vulnerable – the elderly and disabled — not all qualify.
What is clear is that we need to be creative.
An idea that I’d like to throw into the mix now:
After hearing a month’s worth of challenges in finding even seniors and people with disabilities permanent housing, is revisiting “old school” or perhaps “modified” public housing in order? In the case I describe above, perhaps “public senior housing centers” or “public housing centers for people with disabilities” are in order.
If it’s really difficult to find private contractors to provide permanent public housing to vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities, then perhaps it’s time to say: “the market has spoken” and has been found, in this case, to be wanting and just build the senior housing out of public funds.
Obviously, this is but an idea, but I can now point to several dozen “little old ladies” that I can bring to Board of Supervisors meetings across the State or even to the State Legislature to ask:
How is it that even these people, and hundreds of other people in OC, 10-20K people across the State, just like them, can’t find housing?
We’ve spent a couple of generations trying to find “market solutions” to these problems. Perhaps this is a problem that simply can’t be solved by the market.
And let’s remember that by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights housing is supposed to be a human right.
It’s something to think about. And it’s something that Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson did not fear to consider.
Fr. Dennis Kriz, OSM
