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I’ve spent the better part of the past two years trying to get a grip on Orange County’s homeless challenge, how it impacts those who call our streets their home, those communities who must cope with them and the County’s challenge to serve them.
As I’ve seen it, the homeless roughly are made up of three groups: 1) able-bodied transients from other states or countries looking for work; 2) women and children fleeing abusive home situations; and 3) the severely mentally ill. The first group will help themselves, adjust and move upward. The second group needs temporary help to make up for poor life choices. The third group needs permanent help through conditions beyond their control.
OC CIVIC CENTER: Every day in the Orange County Civic Center, I confront the approximately 100 people who hang out all day on our benches, lawns and pathways. They can be an intimidating sight for those who need the occasional County service like a birth certificate, marriage license, tax information or property records.
Every night, various charitable groups will bring free food, and the numbers swell. Nighttime will find them bundled up in doorways of public buildings, under trees or in the shrubbery. The Board has formed a committee to look at the issue, but answers are tough. It is no crime to hang out in a public place, but the free food has made the Civic Center a haven for those who should be cared for in a better setting. The Civic Center should be a welcoming place for those seeking County services—not a campground for those who have no place else to go.
RESIDENCE MOTELS: To learn more about those on the verge of homelessness, I spent a week last summer observing conditions at a typical residence motel on West Orangethorpe in Fullerton. Weekly rates were prominently posted, and casual daily tourists were few. There were children playing in the parking lot all day, and into the night, supervised by a number of women sitting just outside their doors.
There were some working poor residents who would leave in the morning and return in the evening in pick-up trucks or who took the bus to job centers. I spoke with one woman fleeing domestic abuse. Another man had left Oregon for a rumored job that still hadn’t materialized. I had conversations in Spanish with a couple of men engaged in day labor.
One man simply sat most of the day chain-smoking at the end of the upstairs walkway. He always greeted me with a friendly “hello” next to an open door of a room occupied by several other people.
Loud music and conversations could be heard through the thin walls. There was a small pool, but it was locked with no sign as to how it could be accessed. The rooms had no kitchen facilities or any way of safely preparing food, but the aroma of cooking food could be detected, doubtless from hot plates or crock pots.
This motel is typical of several dozen in Southwest Fullerton, and in West Anaheim and Stanton where many are concentrated along Beach Blvd. With fanciful names such as the Robin Hood, Tropics, Starlight and Grand Inn, they evoke the hope of attracting Disney/Knott’s bound tourists. But that day is long past. Neglect had transformed 60’s-tourist destinations into dead-ends for many on those on the verge of homelessness. The motel where I’d booked a room had 2 tourist reviews posted on the TripAdvisor.com website. One was entitled “Like a Motel Out of a Horror Movie,” the other “Loved the Bullet-Proof Glass.”
The County and the Cities of Anaheim and Fullerton have dealt directly with issues from people living in motels. My ride-alongs with Fullerton police officers included numerous stops at such places. School districts must track motel kids whose lifestyle and environment make academics a challenge.
Rents range in the $250-350 per week range, with summers typically higher. There are apartments available in that range, but they require hefty security deposits and credit checks which those on the edge cannot meet.
Typically, these motels begin to empty out toward the end of the month as support checks run out. Many can only afford to stay a few weeks a month. The County works with a number of charitable organizations dealing with motel people. And we also support two homeless shelters that take those who can no longer afford to live in them.
The motel owners are not getting rich themselves. Most are recent immigrants from South or East Asia for whom running the motel involves the whole family and they typically live on-site. But they must be held to American standards of maintenance and safety.
SHELTERS: Early this month, I spent the night in a Fullerton homeless shelter operated by the County. I learned more about conditions and challenges. I’d gotten complaints from nearby residents that too many were hanging out in nearby parks and neighborhoods.
The OC Housing and Community Development Department directly supports the operation of two homeless shelters in Fullerton and Santa Ana. Both operate out of U.S. National Guard Armories that typically see little nighttime activity. The cavernous buildings are open with huge floor space that can accommodate up to 200 people sleeping on mats on the floor. Guests are divided physically into 3 sleeping areas—single men (about 60%), single women (25%) and families with children (15%).
I served on the Fullerton City Council in 1987 when our armory at Valencia and Brookhurst first opened to the homeless in 1987. The facility is open during the six coldest months of the year, and closes every April 15. I had volunteered to pass out blankets and food last year and returned on a recent drizzly April night to learn more. I wound up spending the night myself.
Guests are accepted from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., when lights go out. They are provided with a free dinner, a pad and a blanket. Some used clothing is offered by local churches and volunteer Kaiser Permanente medical personnel are sometimes available to address serious health issues.
My stay confirmed the three types of homeless: Able-bodied working poor, destitute moms and kids in transition and the severely mentally ill.
The night was punctuated by loud snoring and the occasional crying baby. Security was good and the sleeping areas well delineated. There were no verbal or physical conflicts or negative incidents. The guests were fairly passive. Many were repeat guests who knew the routine. Based on the passing conversations I heard, about 80% were native English speakers, the rest spoke Spanish.
Lights went back on at 5:00 a.m., and the building was cleared by 5:30 a.m. It was still drizzly and dark outside. A few got into vans taking them to La Palma Park to ease the burden of the local neighborhoods. Most just filtered out to bus stops, a nearby doughnut shop and/or drifted out into the brightening twilight of the dim dawn.
Some hang out in local parks. The more ambitious hang out in parking lots looking for day work. A few have regular jobs as gardeners or dishwashers. Some will get plugged into a social service agency or non-profit to get help back on their feet. The seriously mentally ill, however, will remain on the fringes.
How to differentiate those suffering from bad life choices from those who are seriously mentally incapacitated? How to offer people help without making them helpless? How to lend a hand without making it a permanent handout? How do we help people become strong without making them permanently weak?
Tough questions to ask. But we have to keep searching for answers. |
