South Oc Spa cities did not sign the Settlement Agreement...*

Published: September 21, 2022 3 pages

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⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings and Recommendations 2 findings

The County of Orange and cities within Orange County have been inconsistent in collaboration for support of shelters and services, which has resulted in missed opportunities to end homelessness. The City of Laguna Beach agrees with the finding. Since November of 2009, the City of Laguna Beach has owned, funded, and contracted for the operation of a low barrier, 45-bed emergency shelter within the City, commonly known as the Alternative Sleeping Location (ASL). The City contracts with the Friendship Shelter for the operation of the ASL. The majority of those staying in the ASL are residents of various South Orange County cities versus un-housed residents of Laguna Beach. Under the current agreement with the Friendship Shelter, referrals from cities/agencies outside of Laguna Beach for admittance to the ASL are allowed, but un-housed individuals from Laguna Beach are provided priority. The City will consider amending this agreement in the near future to focus exclusively on un-housed individuals from Laguna Beach, as a means to incentivize other cities to support a regional shelter system. It must be noted that on of the report, the Grand Jury states that "South OC SPA cities did not sign the Settlement Agreement..." Unfortunately, Laguna Beach is grouped with other cities in the South OC SPA. Unlike the other cities that make up the South OC SPA, Laguna Beach has consistently and proactively stepped up to address the issue of homelessness within our community and, within the larger South OC SPA, by allowing outside admittance to the ASL. On September 23, 2019, the City proactively entered into a federal court Settlement Agreement under the auspice of United States District Judge David O. Carter. That action is one further measure that differentiates the City of Laguna Beach's response to homelessness from the other cities within the South OC SPA. FAX (949) 497-0771 505 FOREST AVE. LAGUNA BEACH, CA 92651 TEL (949) 497-3311 The Honorable Erick L. Larsh September 21, 2022 While the City of Laguna Beach has provided a safety valve by allowing other cities' use of the ASL, we realize that unregulated use of the Laguna Beach-owned and funded ASL has enabled the inconsistent collaboration for support of shelters and services to address homelessness within the South OC SPA by the other cities. Accordingly, the City of Laguna Beach will respect the July 1, 2023 deadline for the South OC SPA cities encompassed within Recommendations R1 and R2 to site, fund, and open an emergency shelter to address unhoused individuals within those cities by considering the establishment of regulations for the ASL, to reduce the enabling of the South OC SPA cities to continue to miss opportunities to end homelessness.

No recommendations for this finding

There are an insufficient number of rental units available to those exiting Emergency Shelters, resulting in the majority returning to homelessness when leaving the shelters. The City of Laguna Beach disagrees partially with the finding. Through its partnership with the Friendship Shelter and actively addressing of serving the unhoused, the City of Laguna Beach has experienced general success of exiting individuals to proper housing opportunities after staying at the ASL. However, it is clearly evident that there is an insufficient number of affordable rental units and permanent supportive housing units, in addition to proper mental health facilities for individuals to advance to after staying in an emergency shelter.

Related Recommendations (1)

By July 1, 2024, the County of Orange, cities and CoC should collaborate to open facilities that can house people with severe and persistent mental illness and addiction issues in a secure setting. The recommendation has not yet been implemented but will be implemented in the future. The City of Laguna Beach cannot stress enough that facilities to support and house people with severe and persistent mental illness and addiction issues, is critical to any endgame of addressing homelessness. The City is fully supportive of the new Be Well OC comprehensive mental health center to be located in South Orange County on County-owned land in the City of Irvine. While this new wellness center is greatly needed, it must be accompanied by additional facilities to handle the growing mental health and addition crisis that often leads to instances of homelessness, as well as providing permanent supportive housing options. The City is also home to the only behavioral health care unit in South Orange County and therefore experiences greater impact from individuals exited from that facility, the majority of which originate from other South OC cities. The City recognizes that the County of Orange, through the adopted Housing Funding Strategy and the Orange County Housing Finance Trust have increased the availability of needed housing.

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.