Blog note: this opinion piece references a recent grand jury report.
It has been a tumultuous past few months as the homelessness crisis in Orange County erupted before our eyes. The Santa Ana Riverbed closure in January was followed by the subsequent filing of two federal civil rights lawsuits against the county. Amidst the chaos, U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter appealed for the multiple stakeholders, including the county and 34 cities to work together and come to a pragmatic solution to ameliorate the homeless condition in the region.
Orange County leaders in government, business and nonprofits looked at the situation and asked openly: Can we truly solve the homelessness epidemic in our communities permanently?
In a word, yes, homelessness in our neighborhoods can finally be eradicated.
Our cities and the county have crafted a solution that helps those most in need while restoring the confidence of our residents who simply want to enjoy their public spaces and parks without the feeling of insecurity or angst.
The answer rests in the development of 2,700 units of permanent supportive housing as part of a comprehensive system of care that delivers wrap-around services to homeless individuals.
The mission is straightforward … find permanent supportive housing for the roughly 4,700 people living without shelter and suffering from poverty, lack of affordable housing, mental illness and addiction.
Homelessness in Orange County costs $300 million per year, according to a 2017 study. Providing permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless individuals would actually save over $40 million per year.
What we deeply understand is that homelessness cannot be solved on the street. The only lasting method to solve homelessness is to embrace a housing first approach, as the state has done with the $2 billion No Place Like Home funding initiative.
To that end, community leaders endorsed a Board of Supervisors/ACC-OC proposal to create an Orange County Housing Finance Trust, which would be the monetary leveraging tool necessary to finance the development of the 2,700 permanent supportive housing units.
Assembly Bill 448 provides the legislative tool to form the trust. Specifically, the language creates a funding platform to harness public and private dollars toward a forecast target of $900 million needed to facilitate development.
The legislation, authored by Assemblymembers Tom Daly and Sharon Quirk-Silva, has garnered the support of Republicans and Democrats in the county and has bi-partisan support in the Capitol.
Utilizing permanent supportive housing can create an ecosystem of coordinated offerings and deliver healthcare, mental health services, addiction programs and workforce development opportunities for inhabitants.
State funds are at stake, attached to measures such as November’s Senate Bill 3, the $4 billion Veteran’s and Affordable Housing Bond Act, as well as tax credits and other financial resources.
Further, the recent Orange County grand jury summation on the topic of homelessness declares in no uncertain terms: “The County and cities establish a regional body empowered to develop and implement a comprehensive business plan for siting and funding Permanent Supportive Housing development.”
And that entity is the Orange County Housing Finance Trust.
As county leaders implement this solution, we embrace the opportunity to put our differences aside and share in the common goal of mitigating homelessness.
Reminding us of the challenges and opportunities ahead, we can look back and recall the words of another time, which held so much promise built on indefatigable energy and dedication of purpose.
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win. ” President John F. Kennedy — Sept. 12, 1962
August 25, 2018
The Orange County Register
By Heather Stratman
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