Orange County will begin compiling a list of locations where it could open another emergency homeless shelter after Supervisor Shawn Nelson on Tuesday directed staff to find county-owned properties that could accommodate that function.
Nelson’s direction comes six months after the county opened its first year-round emergency homeless shelter, located in Santa Ana, and about a month before it plans to open its first year-round “multi-service” shelter, in Anaheim, which will focus on finding the homeless permanent housing rather than just sheltering them temporarily.
Nelson made his comments at the end of a Board of Supervisors meeting that saw numerous speakers criticize the board for not doing enough to help the homeless encamped along the Santa Ana River in Orange and Anaheim, whom the county recently forced to relocate from the river’s east bank to its west bank. County officials said the move was to accommodate a flood-control project.
“Until we can offer a bed for every person … until we can answer that question, I think we’re going to continue to lose this argument,” Nelson said. “If we had to place 400 beds in the next month instead of the next five years, where could we do this effort? What do we control that we don’t have to ask anyone (for permission)?”
Nelson suggested a new shelter could be established with temporary tent-like structures and portable bathrooms and showers. He said he is not committing to a new shelter and that the board would make that decision another day.
In past years, the county has coordinated with cities to find land for its homeless shelters, but that has changed of late.
The county purchased a warehouse for its Anaheim shelter in late 2015 after a few years of searching for suitable locations in that city, Fullerton and Santa Ana. That process included hosting forums, negotiating with city council members and holding public hearings in which neighbors and businesses adjacent the proposed properties complained that a shelter would lower their property value and make the area unsafe. Eventually, Anaheim and Fullerton each contributed $500,000 to purchase the $4.25 million site.
But last fall, the county opted to open its Santa Ana shelter on county-owned property that didn’t require the city’s approval or cooperation. Supervisors Nelson and Andrew Do previously have criticized the city for ending a county effort to open a Santa Ana shelter in 2014 on city-zoned land, before the city council issued a moratorium on such uses.
Nelson acknowledged that a new shelter likely would be unpopular wherever it might be placed.
Supervisor Lisa Bartlett responded to Nelson’s direction by saying the county needs to work more closely with state and federal legislators to address homelessness on a larger scale so that Orange County doesn’t assume too much of the burden of finding a fix.
“We can solve the problem locally here and … as the word gets out we’re going to have more individuals coming from other counties and other states,” Bartlett said.
Nelson replied that another emergency homeless shelter was “not the answer, it’s just a step.”
Lou Noble, an Anaheim resident and homeless advocate, praised Nelson for beginning the search for a new shelter location and credited the numerous activists who have spoken at recent meetings for helping to initiate change.
“This thing has been a big battle for the past three years, and I’m glad to hear he’s actually listening now,” Noble said. “But we’re going to continue to be there every board meeting until we see some changes.”
Eve Garrow, a homelessness policy analyst with the ACLU in Orange County, was less complimentary, saying that another emergency shelter was just a bandage on a larger problem. She pointed out that the board has spent little money on permanent-supportive housing to help people remain housed in the long run.
There were around 4,452 street homeless in Orange County in 2015, up 5 percent from two years prior, according to biannual counts.
Upward of 350 homeless people per night have stayed at the county’s Courtyard shelter in Santa Ana, and the Anaheim shelter is expected to accommodate 100 homeless people when it opens. The county also funds two cold-weather armory shelters in Fullerton and Santa Ana.
Contact the writer: jgraham@scng.com or 714-796-7960
