Santana: Quick Housing Options Needed to Spur OC Homelessness Efforts

homelessness
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Federal District Judge David O. Carter checks in with the County of Orange and local cities this week to gauge progress on homelessness. Carter declared a public emergency earlier this year following the news that more than 200 homeless people died over the last year, just ahead of a scathing ACLU report on conditions at county shelters, which are overcrowded because of the lack of progress on establishing permanent supportive housing.

Santana: The Best of 2018

2018 elections
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The Blue Wave Election and Homelessness led the list of top stories for the Voice of OC team in 2018 along with a host of scrappy, daily enterprise reporting scoops uncovering fraud, waste and abuse across Orange County. Readers can really help spur this kind of reporting this week – as all contributions before Dec. 31 get doubled by a national foundation effort to bolster local nonprofit news.

Santana: OC Lack of Progress on Homelessness is Tragic. Could it Soon be Illegal?

Countywide
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Recent court decisions stress that without adequate public sheltering infrastructure, leaders can’t legally enforce anti-camping ordinances. Given the failure of OC Supervisors to craft regional consensus among cities on housing homeless people, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has now been put in a tough position, one he’s been trying to avoid since March.

Santana: Time for Common Sense

Donald Trump
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Voice of OC today stands alongside hundreds of news organizations across America, pushing back against President Trump’s assertion that reporters are enemies of the people, defending the notion that a free and independent press is central to our democracy, our freedom.

Santana: OC Faces Stark Accountability Crisis

Homepage Top Story
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Local & Fed OC law enforcement agencies apparently target each over political investigations, prompting many to question who can be expected to regulate elected officials in Orange County. Meanwhile, south county mayors ignore the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ mandate on homelessness, insisting other cities continue to cover them on shelters. And with hundreds of millions being considered for affordable housing construction, voices are already calling for a new regional housing construction agency – independent of the Board of Supervisors.

Santana: Part-Time County Supervisors

Homepage Top Story
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After publicly confronting their own inability to craft a regional solution to the local homelessness crisis last week, Orange County Supervisors should face some hard questions about their own political futures. Yet instead of the usual recall talk, Orange County should think big picture…as in Part Time County Supervisors.