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allowing them a year to get their act together. However, progress by south county cities appears to not be <br />moving and it is impacting our city. Now is the time to put additional pressure on them. I also understand that <br />the second case may be served upon certain other cities this week, but that should not preclude Santa Ana from <br />going through with our previously voted and approved upon course of action. <br />Now, absolutely none of this should preclude Santa Ana from providing for its homeless... and maybe even <br />some of those from surrounding Central SPA cities as long as we are working together towards a greater <br />good. We should be taking care of our homeless and providing services to help them get back on their <br />feet. What we are doing now is not working. We need to provide for them in a very strategic manner... and do it <br />quickly. <br />We currently are working with the courts on this case. I have attended virtually all of the public Judge Carter <br />hearings. In my opinion, Judge Carter has been very sympathetic to Santa Ana. I feel he understands our <br />struggles and feel that he thinks other cities need to provide homeless services in their own cities or areas. We <br />previously had agreed to not only open The Link but also close The Courtyard and open a new facility with the <br />County (Yale). The Link was intended to be temporary. <br />The County currently has indicated that they are slowing down (stopping) on Yale based upon some rumblings <br />of our current council. I feel that if Yale, or a similar number of beds of 600, is not in progress that it may put <br />our settlement before Judge Carter's court in jeopardy. 1 do not know that there is a finalized settlement as i <br />cannot find it on PACER but the language certainly seemed to go in that direction. <br />IMO, there is not much worse than having a judge who previously was sympathetic to our situation and <br />approving of a settlement and then us going back on an agreement to where the judge feels that he was <br />"played". He will likely no longer be very friendly to us and likely will require more beds than originally <br />planned- in fact, he indicated in court that if the current cities did not settle, then the number of beds required <br />would go up. The proposed Yale facility will provide 125 beds solely for Santa Ana and then remainder for <br />those in the Central SPA. This is compared to the county having complete control of the Courtyard. Again, I <br />would caution us from taking action that would jeopardize our standing before Judge Carter right now without a <br />greater end game in mind. <br />Additionally, I have been told by Supervisor Do's office that the Yale facility will not be a walk in/out facility <br />like The Courtyard but will be a referral only facility similar to The Link or Bridges at Kraemer. They have <br />indicated this in public also and i am sure they would reiterate it to you too. This is a huge improvement for <br />Santa Ana. I am sure that each of you have been to The Link. I think you would agree that there are no <br />homeless on the streets outside of the facility. The same can be said of Bridges in Anaheim. You generally <br />would not even know that there was a homeless shelter there. This type of facility is a drastic improvement as <br />compared to The Courtyard both for the residents and for the neighbors/city. It is important for the public (and <br />you) to know that The Courtyard is not moving but instead it is closing and being replaced by something that <br />will have less impact on our city AND will allow us to abide by proposed settlement in the courts which will <br />allow our police department to enforce our laws, hopefully with compassion and an goal for improving their <br />situation. Most importantly, Yale will also provide better services to its residents and hopefully be more <br />successful at transitioning them out of the emergency shelter. <br />I urge you to work with the County to continue with expanding our city's emergency housing stock (i.e. <br />Yale). We have so many folks living on the streets, railroads, creeks, and parking lots- they would be better <br />served in a facility meant for them to receive respite. Obviously, also encourage them to work on opening <br />county facilities in other cities outside of Santa Ana (maybe serving the lawsuit will help). Even if other cities <br />are not stepping up, we need to take care of our homeless. Before the courts, we are actually getting "credit" for <br />these beds btw which is important to understand. I also urge you to continue to expand, and do it rapidly and <br />strategically, the number of permanent supportive housing units available so that we are not using emergency <br />