Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/judge-david-o-carter/)
Judge David O. Carter said OC cities need to take care of their “proportional” share of the county’s homeless population, and warned that without action, the court could invalidate anti-camping laws.
“This county has been in a crisis situation from the time the court got this case. This county’s structure has been deplete, and I think only recently has there been a concerted and good faith effort to catch up with decades of neglect,” said federal Judge David O. Carter at a court conference Friday morning.
Judge David O. Carter noted county officials had 30 days to prepare for the new shelter beds. His announcement puts pressure on the supervisors to have a plan ready before an April 3 meeting with Carter and city officials.
All three of the proposed shelter sites could be eliminated Tuesday, but another vote on re-selecting the location for the beds is expected at a later date, after county and city officials gather on April 3 for a court-organized meeting.
Orange County supervisors to create up to 400 new emergency shelter beds on county-owned properties and spend about $70.5 million in stockpiled money for housing and services for homeless people with serious mental illnesses.
With every passing hearing, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter keeps drilling into the reality of homelessness in Orange County: Tax resources and public worker expertise are there. County supervisors are the problem.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter expanded the scope of his inquiry into homelessness at the Santa Ana riverbed Saturday pushing city and county officials during a day-long federal court hearing to also agree to relocate the roughly 150 homeless people living in the Santa Ana Civic Center. County officials have agreed to extend motel stays for some former riverbed homeless.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved up to $2 million to use toward additional shelter beds, as part of a plan to move hundreds of Santa Ana Riverbed homeless people from motels to other types of shelter.
The month-long motel stay for the first group of homeless people relocated from the Santa Ana Riverbed ends Friday, a deadline that has hundreds of homeless people, county residents, volunteers and attorneys for the homeless wondering what comes next.
One man died from an early Friday morning fight in the Santa Ana riverbed homeless encampment, but the cause of death is still unclear as the county attorney said it was a stabbing, while the Sheriff’s department could not confirm that.