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and women but should also include men who also want help. Secondly, there is still a tremendous <br />need for immediate emergency housing which this will not do anything to alleviate. <br />The Alton site may be appropriate for permanent supportive housing but in the meantime, a <br />temporary emergency shelter should be established at the appropriately zoned 100-acre site in <br />Irvine as well as other sites throughout the county. The Alton project will take 2 to 3 years to come <br />on line I believe. It is not solving the immediate problem. It is part of the next step. This site may <br />be a great addition, but does not mean that Irvine cannot participate in the <br />Fairview Developmental Center <br />The residents of Costa Mesa saw the effectiveness of the Irvine residents in throwing their power <br />around and Costa Mesa will likely follow the same plan. Costa Mesa will, and already has, come up <br />with all types of reasons that the Fairview Developmental Center is not appropriate. Costa Mesa <br />has a homeless problem also. Fairview can be part of the solution not only for the local Costa Mesa <br />homeless but other homeless throughout the county. <br />However, given the zoning and other barriers, which in time can be overcome, Fairview is likely <br />more valuable as part of the longer term solution. In the meantime, we still have to address the <br />more immediate need of immediate housing and shelter. There obviously is a fair amount of open <br />space at that facility also which should be considered for temporary shelter also. I urge you to work <br />with the State of California with the necessary requirements in allowing the center to be used for <br />homeless housing. <br />We need to explore multiple options but we should not allow one seemingly potential option, <br />Fairview, to derail another immediately available option in the 100-acre Irvine site. We need to <br />proceed with both options, the newly proposed Alton site in Irvine, and also the other sites that <br />hopefully other cities will come to the table with. <br />Conclusion <br />The residents of Santa Ana have been more than generous in not only providing for the homeless <br />but also in our compassion towards them. Santa Ana has supported the Courtyard Shelter, Mercy <br />House and other housing for those who are most vulnerable. Santa Ana has been thrust into caring <br />for the unhoused for far too long and the residents of Santa Ana deserve as much respect as those <br />who live in other parts of the County. By spreading emergency shelter housing throughout the <br />county, we will see that no one area is carrying an extraordinary burden but a manageable one. In <br />turn, it will allow leadership to provide for a strategy that can be implemented to not only provide <br />housing but also to transition the homeless back into jobs. <br />It is not appropriate to expect that Santa Ana, Anaheim and a few select other cities to carry the <br />load that we have been carrying for many years now. The residents of Santa Ana should be <br />provided the same consideration as to location of shelters as any other city in the County. If the <br />location of the Santa Ana shelter is appropriate for its residents, it certainly can be acceptable in <br />almost any other location throughout the county if the land is available. If the residents are going <br />to be treated differently than residents in other parts of the community, then there will be legal <br />issues. <br />81Fage <br />