Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/category/regions/south-county/laguna-hills/)
South Orange County cities are watching their law enforcement costs soar by more than 20 percent over the last four years largely due to salary and benefit increases authorized by county supervisors.
The County of Orange will finally get homeless people into a hotel in South County after an OC Superior Court judge looks unconvinced by Laguna Hills efforts to stop the county from housing people there during the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has killed 33 people as of Monday.
Orange County officials head to court to fight Laguna Hills’ attempt to block the county from housing homeless people in a hotel in the city, marking another snag in OC’s efforts to put homeless people in motel rooms during the virus pandemic.
Laguna Hills filed a lawsuit Tuesday, opposing the 76 rooms county officials would use in the city during the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has killed 22 people in OC.
New plans for the redevelopment of the closed Laguna Hills Mall call for a couple of hundred more apartments and a reduction in retail space.
“This is a game-changer,” Judge David O. Carter told the courtroom Tuesday before signing off on the settlement, which the court can enforce for the next three years.
The nearly 7,000 people officially homeless n Orange County should be a wake up call to the County and all 34 cities to start building affordable and permanent supportive housing, in addition to shelters, according to experts in the field.
One of OC’s next homeless shelters could be headed for the affluent south county suburbs, the judge warns after citing a lack of progress by elected officials to create a mental health shelter.
Orange County Republicans need to distance themselves from President Donald Trump to regain the offices they lost in November and Democrats can’t overplay their hand in order to keep the legislative seats they gained heading into 2020, according to policy and elections specialists.
Over the last year, OC saw more action toward getting homeless people off the streets and into shelter than any other time in recent memory.