Office of the City Manager August 28, 2018 The Honorable Charles Margines Presiding Judge Orange County Superior Court*

Homelessness in Orange County is a regional problem requiring regional approaches and solutions. Response 1: The City agrees with this finding.

The lack of a regional plan designating specific development goals for Permanent Supportive Housing contributes to an insufficient number of available units to house the chronically homeless. Response 2: The City agrees with this finding.

Cities' reluctance to provide sites for Permanent Supportive Housing development has contributed to overcrowded emergency shelters and an increased unsheltered homeless population. S. ANAHEIM BLVD. SUITE 733 ANAHEIM, CA 92805 TEL (714) 765-5162 FAX (714) 765-5164 www.anaheim.net Response 4: The City disagrees wholly or partially with this finding. Overcrowding of emergency shelters and increased unsheltered population is the direct result of insufficient emergency shelters throughout the County of Orange. The City is host to the first Orange County Emergency Shelter, holding 200 beds and is in current discussions to add additional emergency shelter sites to its inventory. Further, the City of Anaheim has demonstrated its willingness, not reluctance, to partner with the County and developers to provide Permanent Supportive Housing ("PSH") on several projects such as Diamond Apartments (2008; 100% PSH) and Rockwood Apartments (2016), as highlighted in the Grand Jury Report. In addition to full PSH units, Anaheim continues to provide shelter at varying levels to homeless individuals, commits financial resources to the homeless population, and is currently in several stages to add additional PSH units to the City's inventory.

Service Planning Area meetings have successfully brought together city, county and non-profit entities to share information on homeless issues, but have not fostered decision-making or action. Response 6: The City agrees with this finding, partially. Service Planning Areas (SPA) brought cities together and may not have resulted in decision-making and/or action within each SPA. However, immediately after the County separated cities into three SPAs, the North Service Planning Area immediately scheduled meetings and has been meeting regularly to discuss regional solutions and as a direct result, recently submitted a confidential letter to the United States District Court, Central District, in the matter of Orange County Catholic Workers, et al. v. County of Orange, et al., outlining the regional collaborative approaches, including funding, the identification of emergency bed shelter sites, and transitional and permanent supportive housing units. Moreover, the North SPA was the first to receive funding from the State to conduct the first North Orange County Homeless Census to provide specific data on the region's homeless population, to better match resources and housing to homeless located in the North SPA. Additional collaborative decisions and action include, but is not limited to, compiling a general inventory of emergency shelter beds, availability of vacant beds, and opportunities to expand. Transitional housing and PSH was also a point of discussion resulting in a regional map identifying all SB2 zones in North SPA eligible for emergency and transitional housing.

NIMBYism has impeded the creation of housing for the homeless, including Permanent Supportive Housing, in the County of Orange. Response 7: The City agrees with this finding, partially. NIMBYism is a true hurdle, however Anaheim continues to address issues and conduct necessary outreach to minimize NIMBYism. The Bridges at Kraemer Emergency Shelter, various PSH units currently online and others in the pipeline, as well as ongoing discussions to host a(n) emergency shelter(s) in the City of Anaheim demonstrates Anaheim's continual efforts to identify and address housing needs for Anaheim's homeless. Nonetheless, community opposition exists, which requires significant staff time, financial resources and extended timelines on projects in order to achieve appropriate community engagement.

Orange County cities and the County have engaged in blaming and finger-pointing, hampering the collaborative efforts needed to site, finance, and maintain Permanent Supportive Housing. Response 8: The City disagrees with this finding wholly or partially. The uncertainty of responsibility and funding for homelessness is challenging. However, the City of Anaheim has completed several projects through collaboration and in partnership with the County of Orange including sites for various homeless uses, development of PSH units, such as Rockwood Apartments, Diamond Apartments, motel conversions and future units for Veterans and Seniors. The City recognizes that there is always room for improvement and will continue to work towards greater collaboration; the City values the current partnership and line of communication with the County, which has contributed to many significant projects as previously highlighted.

Cities have taken a silo approach to developing Permanent Supportive Housing, resulting in inefficient leveraging and pooling of funds across municipal borders. Response 9: The City disagrees with this finding wholly or partially. Decisions on the type of development that is needed to address critical housing needs is always based on regional data, in addition to city data. The City has a long standing record of working with the County to produce Permanent Supportive Housing as evidenced by the development of Tyrol Plaza in 2005, a 60 unit senior housing project that included 12 units set-aside for homeless seniors (services are funded by the County), Diamond Apartments which opened in 2009 (24 PSH units supported with County funds) and Rockwood Apartments, a unique 70 unit project that contains 48 units set-aside for homeless families as well as 15 County funded MHSA units for chronically homeless individuals. All of these developments have required communication and collaboration between the City and County in order to bring together the multiple funding sources needed to produce long term permanent housing.

There is no established, independent leadership body in the County empowered to address regional homeless issues in an effective manner. Response 10: This finding is generally directed to the County of Orange, however the City disagrees with this finding wholly or partially. The City of Anaheim has a voting seat on the County of Orange Continuum of Care (CoC) Executive Committee designed to address homelessness and funding (State and Federal) at a regional level. Further, there is a subcommittee of the newly formed CoC Executive Committee, which deals with development of PSH units to which we also have an Anaheim representative participate on this committee. Recommendations