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Orozco, Norma From:Juan Gonzalez <juan_gonzalez@berkeley.edu> Sent:Monday, August 03, 2020 8:27 PM To:eComment Subject:Juan González, Public Comment for 08/04 Special CC Meeting Dear Members of the City Council, I want to first express my gratitude to you and City staff for the significant time and effort that you’ve invested in protecting Santa Ana’s vulnerable residents since the start of the pandemic. As a low-income, Latino product of this city, I commend your commitment to ensuring that the newly allocated CARES funding benefits those most marginalized and at-risk for contracting COVID-19. With that in mind, I must ask you to consider that the City’s proposed spending plan omits the needs of perhaps one of the most vulnerable groups in Santa Ana: the unhoused. Not a single dollar of the proposed spending plan is expected to directly benefit the unhoused population of our city, an omission that jeopardizes not only their well-being, but that of the city as a whole as well. In 2019, the County identified 1,769 unhoused people residing in the City of Santa Ana, a figure that is assuredly an undercount. These 1,769+ unhoused human beings are more than four times as likely as sheltered people to report a physical health condition, and are three to six times as likely as the general population to have diabetes, heart disease and HIV/AIDS, all of which are severe risk factors for COVID. Santa Ana’s unhoused population also previously faced difficulty with accessing basic needs such as food, clean water and hygiene supplies, difficulties that have only been aggravated by the effects of the pandemic. If even one unhoused person were to become ill, an outbreak of dramatic proportions is to be expected. This outbreak would have the possibility of spreading not only among encampments, but also, at sites where the general population works, travels, plays and congregates. I call on you as City Council to consider investing a portion of the CARES Act funding in hygiene supplies, testing and outreach services to unhoused encampments throughout Santa Ana. The omission of this vulnerable population from this critical opportunity would be continuing the dangerous narrative that unhoused people are not part of our community, are not as worthy of health and well-being as us sheltered folks are. The metric for the moral compass of our city is how we treat its most marginalized residents, and so I expect that you heed that call with compassion and humanity. Sincerely, Juan J. Gonzalez Ward 1 Resident and Born-and-Raised Santanero -- Juan J. González UC Berkeley School of Public Health | MPH Candidate UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design | MCP Candidate Pronouns in Use: He Him His 1