Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/category/topics/housing-homelessness/)
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of OC Catholic Worker and seven homeless plaintiffs, who allege law enforcement have created additional hardship for homeless people by seizing property and issuing citations while people are away from their belongings, going to the bathroom, attending doctor’s appointments and performing other essential tasks.
The Anaheim City Council last week voted unanimously to approve a $1 a year lease for the Illumination Foundation to use a vacant historic home as a homeless service center.
The removal comes less than two weeks after the county entered a $750,000 contract with the non-profit City Net to provide services to a separate group of homeless people camped on the western bank of the Santa Ana River near Angel Stadium.
Donald Meade was homeless, living at Santa Ana’s Civic Center. Then he stopped using and got off the streets. But there was still unfinished business.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a county coroner’s contract to provide training across California despite the department misidentifying a homeless man’s body in May, resulting in a family unknowingly holding a funeral for a stranger.
Anaheim City Council members failed to endorse an existing anti-camping ordinance aimed at people living on the streets, tabling a request by Councilwoman Kris Murray to “reaffirm” the city’s existing approach to addressing homelessness.
The proposed budget has a large discretionary increase for the Sheriff’s Department and comparatively tiny discretionary increases for social and health services.
A majority of the council has expressed concern over Supervisor Shawn Nelson’s proposal to open a 200-person homeless shelter on county land near the entrance to the Great Park.
The top county officials are moving in a new direction to address the county’s growing homelessness, authorizing new housing and support services in a unanimous decision this week.
“There is not a board majority at this time” to support a permit for the restrooms, Spitzer told Voice of OC. He said he hopes to introduce an alternative idea Wednesday.