Thousands Protest Tent Cities During OC Supervisors Meeting

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA — Protesters gathered outside the to show their ire for the Orange County Supervisors' tent city plans for area homeless. As many as 2,000 were on hand to denounce the tent cities proposal by the supervisors, who were expected to walk back a plan to erect large tents in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel to temporarily house transients recently removed from Santa Ana and the Santa Ana riverbed.

As many as 90 people signed up for public comments on the issue during the Tuesday meeting. Pat Davis of Anaheim spoke out on behalf of the homeless, praised the supervisors for the relocation of the homeless.

"We have health concerns on top of mental health concerns," she said. "When I see a guy crying because he's afraid someone is going to kill his girlfriend, that's a real thing."

Lisa Peterson said, "I urge you to commit your discretionary budget to your housing first strategy."

And still more people stepped up to the microphone, for their three minutes of free speech.

"Nothing but housing will solve homelessness," one man said. "No more lawsuits. The attorneys are the only ones who benefit. We should be building places for people to live."

One week ago, Supervisors held a special meeting to approve consideration of "sprung structures," which are large tents hotels often use to handle overflow from ballrooms. The supervisors voted to direct staff to research the logistics and then work with officials in each of the three cities, but the plan never got far as residents and city leaders erupted with outrage and threatened litigation.

County officials are confident they have enough beds to handle the transients from the riverbed as their county-issued-30-day motel vouchers expire, but to satisfy U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who is overseeing litigation against the county regarding the relocation of the transients from the riverbed, they pledged to pursue the large tents in the three cities in case they lacked enough beds.

The plan was to put 200 beds in Irvine with 100 each set aside in Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel. If the beds were filled in Irvine then officials would then turn to Huntington Beach and then to Laguna Niguel.
But officials in Huntington Beach complained the property in their city is plagued with methane gas issues, and Laguna Niguel officials say the plot of land under consideration in their city is next to the now-shuttered Orange County Superior Courthouse, which has issues with asbestos and mold.

The urgency to find additional beds came from Carter's plan to see a similar relocation of transients from the Plaza of the Flags area next to the Central Justice Center courthouse in Santa Ana. But Carter told supervisors at a court hearing last week he would tap the brakes on that plan to make sure officials have enough beds for the 170 or so transients there.

Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson will chair Tuesday's meeting as Chairman Andrew Do is out of town.

Nelson has long championed putting up a temporary shelter at the Orange County Great Park because Irvine officials have zoned it for the homeless. The Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel sites are not yet zoned for the homeless.

At the special meeting March 19, the supervisors also voted to spend $70.5 million of money earmarked for the mentally ill to provide beds for the transients through the construction of a new facility or renovation of existing facilities.

City News Service, with Ashley Ludwig, Patch Editor

Photo: Ashley Ludwig