The homelessness crisis has been rising, for years, all across the country. Orange County, California – where I live – is no exception. When I began researching this topic, the first headline I came across was, “Unsheltered, Part 1: Why does Orange County have a homeless problem and how can it be solved?” from the LATimes, December 30, 2019. In my neighborhood and surrounding areas, I’ve watched as more and more people are on the streets with shopping carts, bikes, and on foot carrying all of their worldly possessions to an unknown destination that maybe they know, but maybe they’re just looking for some kind of shelter away from prying eyes. I have no idea what it feels like to not have a place to lay me head at night that is safe, secure and warm. I hope I never do.
I live near an organic grocer that opens early. Walking to it one day, I stopped to observe, at the entrance to our local park, about a dozen homeless individuals, walking and riding out very slowly, as if the weight of the world was on their shoulders. I likened it to a scene from the film, Night of the Living Dead. When I voiced those words, I became immediately ashamed that I could somehow make fun and be astounded at the same time. How did we get here? What happened to these souls to bring them to this place? I thought it was time to find the answers to these questions.
As of January of 2019, Orange County’s homeless population numbered 7,000. Below is a map and statistics of the numbers in different cities. Santa Ana is my city. “The homeless have been in downtown Santa Ana for decades, “but the majority of the population didn’t see it unless they went to the courthouse or had to go get a document at the Civic Center. … It was kind of like, ‘Oh, that’s that problem in Santa Ana,’” said Helen Cameron, community outreach director for Jamboree Housing Corp., an Irvine-based developer of affordable and supportive housing. “So when it became visible in other areas of the community and it began to be seen in parks … people felt violated,” she said. “They couldn’t use their own parks. They weren’t feeling safe” (LATimes).
Clearly, something is not right. The reasons for homelessness are as varied as our DNA. Job loss, mental and/or health issues, bankruptcy, rent increase, alcohol and drug abuse, release from prison with nowhere to go, fleeing an abusive situation and it goes on and on. I realized why I was seeing so many homeless on our streets once I saw the numbers for Santa Ana, where I reside. The most obvious grouping in 2019 was the tent city along the Santa Ana River bed. You could drive along the 57 freeway and see a huge collection of colorful tents and people. When the county tried to remove them, they sued and won the right to stay. The judge claimed that “homelessness was not a crime.”
In future posts, I will delve deeper into this environmental as well as humanitarian crisis and what the County is doing and proposing, along with the pushback and denial regarding how to help the homeless. Stay tuned…