All this week we’ve been discussing the homeless situation and the possibility of a homeless shelter being established by the County in Lake Forest (Click Here). On Tuesday I shared some research results I produced several months ago to show that Lake Forest didn’t need the type of homeless shelter that Central and North County cities have (Click Here). On Wednesday I looked at the model the County is employing and pointed out that it was not merely out-of-date, but counter-productive. (Click Here). Today I want to focus on our efforts to provide services to people who are homeless.
COMMITTEE
Several months ago we established a multi-disciplinary committee to provide oversight and input to our program. The committee consists of people from various nonprofit agencies, the County, and the City, So far we’ve had several meetings.
LIAISON
We appointed a person to coordinate all homeless issues that come into the City, both with respect to external and to internal efforts. In this way we have a single point of contact.
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CENSUS
We conducted two separate census to determine the extent of the problem and the characteristics of our population. As a result we identified some unmet needs and identified an area where we might be putting more energy than needed.
We also identified the existing housing opportunities as well as some of the future opportunities.
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CASE MANAGEMENT
We identified the need for individual case management beyond the work that the Homeless Liaison Officer was doing. We contracted with a well-regarded agency and started a few weeks ago. We believe this move will make us even more successful in getting people out of homelessness. In the past 5 years we have returned nearly 100 people to housing. We plan to do an even better job going forward.
PREVENTION
We are stepping up our prevention efforts beyond families (our past focus) to businesses. Our prevention programs for families have been so successful that in the recent census not a single homeless family was living in Lake Forest.
EMPLOYMENT
In addition to our efforts at preventing business failures, we are looking at ways to fund employment for the homeless, using companies that contract with the City. In addition, we hope to contract with an agency that specializes in this area.
HOMEWARD BOUND
For homeless people who came to our area and enrolled in a sober living home, only to find themselves out in the street, we will work with existing agencies to offer tickets home.
HOUSING
We are working at several levels to open up housing opportunities, including increasing affordable housing, creating more transitional housing, and creating permanent supportive housing. New opportunities have already been created.
What I have opposed, all along, and sometimes standing alone against the multitudes, is the large congregate shelters in our City (or any City for that matter). I thought we had defeated that proposal a few months ago but Politics, like rust, never sleeps. The Politicians from Central and North County along with the Mayor of Irvine are pushing for a shelter in Lake Forest serving all of South County. Their plan is to defeat me at the polls, replace me with Mark Tettemer who has a record of doing what he's told (Click Here), and move forward. This would be a BIG step backwards.
SUMMARY
People who are homeless create challenges for any City. Here in Lake Forest fewer than .001 percent of the population is homeless, and among these people only a few dozen present continuing problems. Over time we have done an excellent job helping people move out of homelessness, and we are stepping up our program to do an even better job moving forward.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest where he serves as Mayor. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a town hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be in January.
