Advocates Skeptical Orange County Officials Will Come Up With Permanent Solution For Homeless
Under a legal settlement, officials are supposed to come up with a more permanent solution for the hundreds of people who were removed from an encampment and placed in motels. But the deadline is looming and it doesn't look likely the officials will cut through the red tape in time.
KPCC:
Deadline Looms To Find Shelter For OC Homeless In Motels
More than two weeks after Orange County officials cleared a homeless encampment and put nearly 700 people in motels, the deadline is looming for a more permanent solution. Under a legal settlement that allowed the 2-mile long Santa Ana River encampment to be cleared in February, the county is supposed to help find alternative housing for evictees before their 30-day motel vouchers are up. That could be the end of this week for some people. (Replogle, 3/12)
In other news —
Los Angeles Times:
'Eye-Popping' Number Of Hypodermic Needles, Pounds Of Waste Cleared From Orange County Riverbed Homeless Encampment
Crews from the Orange County Public Works department have collected nearly 14,000 hypodermic needles and cleared more than 5,000 pounds of hazardous waste — including human waste — from the vast homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River trail. The numbers, released last week, represent cleanup work done from Jan. 22 to March 3 along a two-mile stretch of trail spanning the 5 Freeway in Orange to Ball Road in Anaheim. (Do, 3/10)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Deaths Of Homeless People Go Uncounted In Oakland — And Most Places
Like many local governments, Alameda County does not collect data on how many homeless people die each year or their causes of death. Even if it did, neither the state nor federal government tracks such data — or requires that it be collected. (Veklerov, 3/10)