Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/eve-garrow/)
The shortage of affordable housing in Orange County sent eight homeless people back to the streets last week, because homes weren’t available before they hit the 180-day limit for them to stay at the county’s “Bridges at Kraemer Place” shelter that prepares people to move into housing.
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.
County Counsel Leon Page is defending a ban on public commenters addressing supervisors by name, among other the ACLU claims is illegal. In response, ACLU officials say county supervisors will be set straight by the courts if they don’t change their policies.
Following a legal settlement with county officials protecting homeless at the Santa Ana riverbed, ACLU officials are calling on the OC Board of Supervisors to step up to the real challenge: Affordable Housing. Orange County’s approved Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness calls for permanent, affordable housing as an immediate response to peoples’ needs.
More than 30 protesters gathered at the Santa Ana riverbed Monday to demonstrate against apparent plans by county officials to push out dozens of homeless people who live along its banks.
ACLU officials are reaching out to the City of Laguna Beach with a settlement proposal, in the form of an open letter, seeking to end a 2015 lawsuit filed on behalf of the city’s homeless living at the Laguna Beach Shelter.
The Midnight Mission, which runs the county’s new homeless shelter, prides itself on hiring formerly homeless people. But a few altercations have raised questions about employees’ lack of licensing for security work and their criminal histories.
A coalition of homeless advocacy groups, led by the ACLU, asked the Orange County Board of Supervisors Tuesday to devote $55 million in county taxpayer dollars toward ending homelessness.
Other cities, counties, and states have successfully reduced homelessness. Should Orange County follow these examples, starting first by decriminalizing homelessness?
The homeless are often placed in hopeless situations when forced to comply with county regulations. Are these kinds of tactics effective or does it just exacerbate the problem?