Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/anti-camping-ordinance/)
A federal appeals court this week supports what U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has been warning county and city leaders about for six months: If they don’t offer a realistic option for homeless people to stay overnight, police can’t enforce anti-camping ordinances. On Friday, Carter is bringing OC civic leaders back to court to gauge progress.
The judge, David O. Carter, pointed to Santa Ana and Anaheim residents and businesses who, he said, are grappling with hundreds of homeless people who formerly lived at the Santa Ana riverbed but now are in their cities due to a shelter shortage.
The Legal Aid Society filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Anaheim alleging the city seizes and confiscates the belongings of homeless people without providing adequate due process and options for storage and retrieval.
Mike Robbins, who works with the Anaheim Poverty task force, writes that Mission Viejo leaders should avoid adopting harsh anti-homeless ordinances urging civic leaders to help, rather than harass, those who have fallen on hard times.