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real threat is the ever increasing rent fees and housing prices, lack of adequate mental health supports and services among other factors. Third, the resolution would increase the likelihood of confrontational interactions between law enforcement and the homeless community. People living in the Civic Center need protection, not police harassment. They live outdoors, unprotected, because the county and its cities have failed to provide enough affordable housing or even emergency shelter to meet the need. Because they have nowhere else to live, they cannot comply with city ordinances that prohibit sleeping and lying down in public. Effective public health and safety policy is not supposed to increase the likelihood of potentially confrontational interactions between law enforcement and the community the policy seeks to help. On August 1, for example, Santa Ana police officers approached Mr. Swihart, a homeless individual who violated a nuisance ordinance by riding his bicycle in the Civic Center. Mr. Swihart struggled with officers, prompting one of them to fire multiple rounds at him. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and died on August 14. Nowhere in the attached resolution is this recent death,or the city's response to it,mentioned. Fourth, moving people from the Civic Center to the bus terminal, by threat of citation,may violate their civil rights. This bus terminal was designed to house buses. It is a concrete structure that lacks wrap- around walls, wind barriers, showers, or heating, and therefore fails to meet the basic requirements that constitute an adequate shelter. Moreover, people with mental and physical disabilities may not be able to tolerate the crowded and congregate conditions that will arise when hundreds of people are packed into the terminal. If the bus terminal is opened for use as a living space, it will need to be retrofitted for human habitation and made accessible for people with disabilities. Use of the terminal should be strictly voluntary. At no point in history has forced relocation been good or effective public health and safety policy. Fifth, we urge the Santa Ana City Council to support effective and balanced solutions to homelessness. The county has a Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. The centerpiece of this plan is a "housing first" model, which provides affordable and permanent supportive housing to people, as an immediate response to their needs. This is the federally recommended and proven solution to homelessness. Yet, although the county approved the plan in 2010, homelessness is on the rise. This is because the county has failed to fund the plan, instead relying on stagnating or disappearing federal and state funds that do not come close to meeting the need. We recommend that the City of Santa Ana and all other cities in Orange County encourage the County Board of Supervisors to create a housing trust fund—a dedicated source of funding for affordable and permanent supportive housing. Each city could also contribute to the housing trust fund, to support the creation of affordable and permanent supportive housing throughout the county. Sincerely, 4+— Joel Cazares Program Coordinator Santa Ana Building Healthy Communities