Laserfiche WebLink
How is Orange County Addressing Homelessness? <br />2021-2022 Orange County Grand Jury Page 13 <br />resources provided by the County of Orange. The 2022 Point in Time count documents the <br />resulting decrease in homelessness, even as it shows the remaining challenges. <br />These County of Orange investments to address homelessness make a big difference by taking <br />many people off the streets, providing shelters with basic services, giving needed medical and <br />mental health care, helping with job training, and creating some permanent housing. While these <br />investments are essential, they do not go far enough to house all the homeless people living in <br />Orange County; in fact, only about 30 percent of the individuals exiting temporary shelters move <br />into permanent housing. <br />The challenge of homelessness in our changing economy has been evolving as have our systems <br />of care and prevention. It is clear that no one approach is going to eradicate homelessness. <br />However, if we continue to come together to learn and to improve our collective efforts, we will <br />enable greater success in the exhaustive task of serving this vulnerable population in our <br />community. <br />FINDINGS <br />Based on its investigation described in this report, the 2021-2022 Orange County Grand Jury has <br />arrived at the following findings: <br />F1 South Orange County SPA cities lack low-threshold emergency shelters resulting in more <br />homeless encampments and individuals living on the streets. <br />F2 Too many of the homeless who are severely and persistently mentally ill and those with <br />addiction issues end up incarcerated instead of more appropriate placements. <br />F3 The County of Orange and cities within Orange County have been inconsistent in <br />collaboration for support of shelters and services, which has resulted in missed opportunities <br />to end homelessness. <br />F4 There are an insufficient number of rental units available to those exiting Emergency <br />Shelters, resulting in the majority returning to homelessness when leaving the shelters. <br />F5 The Office of Care Coordination, in collaboration with the Continuum of Care Board, <br />provides an effective community-based system of setting priorities to address homelessness, <br />learning best practices, awarding and monitoring contracts, and overseeing a comprehensive <br />system of care. However, the challenge of housing all our homeless requires much more. <br />F6 Transitional Aged Youth who age out of the Foster Care system are a vulnerable population <br />that often become homeless and need assistance in finding housing. There are insufficient <br />resources to adequately serve these young people.