Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/santa-ana-civic-center-homeless/)
The homeless people who slept in the Santa Ana Civic Center for years were cleared out by Thursday afternoon and people can’t sleep there anymore after much of the area was blocked off by chain link fences.
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.
“We don’t have sufficient capacity,” said the supervisors’ chairman, Andrew Do. The issue is scheduled to be discussed Tuesday at a federal court hearing with U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, county officials, and city officials from across Orange County.
County workers, along with the Santa Ana Police Department, began clearing out segments of the Civic Center homeless camp Monday as healthcare workers and city contractors started health and other assessments of roughly 200 people living there.
“What we saw with…the hysteria from Irvine, is this: It’s simply a class-based argument that if ‘I pay enough for where I live, I shouldn’t have to deal with my homeless problem. I should shift it to some other city,’ ” said county Supervisor Andrew Do.
“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.
The Costa Mesa City Council Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution against turning the Fairview Developmental Center into a homeless shelter.
Answers about where shelters might be placed, and how they would be operated, could come at an April 3 court meeting.
Among the problems he cited: Women’s beds put in men’s sleeping areas due to a lack of space, people with serious mental illnesses being triggered by extremely crowded conditions at the Courtyard shelter, and women being told by county officials their option was to stay at an already-over-capacity shelter with men who they say sexually assaulted them.
At least 250 people protested Sunday against plans for a homeless shelter at a former military base in Irvine, raising concerns about drug use and potential risks to children in nearby athletic fields and neighborhoods. Supervisor Shawn Nelson said no drug use or sex offenders would be allowed in the shelter.