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�PANq N S 4 ,.. Building Healthy Communities Santa Ana Building Healthy Communities 1505 E 17th St,Suite 111, Santa Ana, CA 92705 PHONE: (714) 617-8891 I FAX: (714)647-0901 www.sa-bhc.org September 6,2016 Mayor Miguel Pulido and Members of the City Council City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza P.O. Box 1988,M31 Santa Ana, CA 92701 RE: Resolution Declaring a Public Health and Safety Crisis to Homelessness in the Santa Ana Civic Center Dear Mayor Pulido and Members of the City Council: We write this letter on behalf of Santa Ana Building Healthy Communities (SABHC). SABHC is a community health initiative that brings together dozens of local non-profit organizations as well as youth and adult resident stakeholders to collectively problem-solve and address health related issues in our city. As such,homelessness is a critical issue to our initiative. Collectively, we urge you to reject the resolution declaring a public health and safety crisis related to homelessness in the Santa Ana Civic Center. The proposed resolution recommends removing people living in the Civic Center, by use of force if necessary, to a now-shuttered bus terminal, which currently does not meet high health and regulatory standards. The resolution would additionally increase law enforcement presence in order to monitor and increase the filing of municipal code and nuisance ordinance violations in the Civic Center. Although the resolution cites public health and safety concerns as the justification for the proposed strategy,it should be rejected for the following reasons: First, we recognize the public health concerns in the Civic Center. However, these issues arise not from the people living in the Civic Center, but from the historic city and county negligence of this particular demographic within our communities. City governments and county departments have for decades neglected the basic needs of the homeless population. Resources for housing, adequate restroom facilities, showers, food, and other necessities have not been allocated effectively. Instead, police departments from neighboring cities have been complicit in creating this problem. It is common knowledge that police officers from South County will often times drive their homeless population over to Civic Center. The resolution does not address any of these concerns. Second, we reject the presumption that sound and effective health and public safety policy begins with punitive enforcement measures. Effective public policy should be data-driven and balanced in its approach. As it stands, the resolution would earmark additional funds for security and police officers that would patrol the area without allocating equal amount of resources to address the needs of the people living there. The resolution fails to propose an effective approach that involves working with the homeless population and homeless serving organizations in order to reach solid solutions. Instead, the resolution further stigmatizes the homeless community by labeling it a health and safety threat when the